A Soldier's Love
by Brandtishot
Summary: For eight years they danced around each other, both pulling and pushing towards one another. Through tears, deployments, horrible twists of life, they always seemed to find a way back to each other only to be torn apart again. Will their love survive? Or will they be another statistic of a military couple who didn't make it?
1. Excerpt

Okay so new story idea, I'm currently writing this story for NaNoWriMo. But here is an excerpt let me know if it is a yay or nay idea.

" _Don't patronize me."_

The words glared angrily at Rosalie as she stared at the computer screen, which was opened to _his_ social media page. She had left what she thought was a kind comment in the midst of his heartache and her own, only to be slapped by those words.

She furiously started typing a reply back to him, " _If you even knew what was going on in my life, you wouldn't be so harsh with your words."_

She pounded on the enter key as if to dictate her anger through the keyboard, how dare he! They hadn't spoken in six years and this is the first thing he said to her?

An instant message popped up on her screen-it was from him, it was from Emmett.

" _Can I call you?"_


	2. Chapter One: Before We Officially Met

Rosalie sat silently next to the window on the airplane, her hand absent mindedly resting on her stomach while tears rolled down her cheeks. She hoped no one would sit beside her on the long flight from Seattle to Greenville, she didn't want to have to explain why she was crying or that she was okay to a complete stranger. Rosalie was only nineteen and she was pregnant, on her way to live with her father and his new wife after her fiancée had cheated on her and left her for someone else shortly after they found out they were expecting. She leaned her head against the cool window in hopes of calming herself before someone actually did sit next to her.

She was left humiliated and alone, and about to raise a child on her own. Rosalie silently cursed her ex trying furiously to stop the tears. Thankfully the flight attendant came on over the intercom to announce they were taking off and she was still sitting by herself. Rosalie wiped the tears from her face and sat facing forward trying her hardest to not look back out the window at the life she was leaving behind, and her heart with it.

After a two hour layover in Dallas and another three hour flight, Rosalie finally landed in Greenville where her father was waiting for her. She saw him waiting for her at the bottom of the escalator, waving excitedly and opening his arms for her as she got to the bottom. Bethany rushed to him, flinging herself at him wrapping her own arms around him before a fresh round of tears came.

"It's going to be alright," he said smoothing her hair and planting a kiss on the top of her head. Rosalie had always been a daddy's girl, so to be here with him, pregnant and alone and heartbroken, seemed to be the best place for her. All of her friends back home must have known by now what had happened. Rosalie couldn't face them, it was too much for her.

"Glad you're here kiddo, now let's go get your bags," her dad released her and started in the direction of the baggage claim not waiting for Bethany to follow. He was always a man of few words, usually quiet, but he always seemed to know what his daughter needed and for that she was thankful.

Emmett looked out the window and watched as the ocean turned to land, leaning his head back in the seat with a sign of relief. He was finally home, after being gone for nine months in the hot desert that was Iraq. Another deployment down and he was home at last on his way to see his family. He was glad he had made it home in time for his little sister's graduation, she would be so surprised to see him. His mom would probably cry and hold on tight to him, not that he minded, he loved his mother. It had been nearly a year and a half since he had last seen his siblings and his parents and after everything he had just gone through, he just wanted to be at home with them. He shut his eyes tightly trying to hold back the memories of this last tour and the horrors he had seen. Emmett jolted when a hand touched his shoulder, looking up startled into the eyes of an equally shaken flight attendant.

"Sir, we are about to land, could you please put your tray up?"

Emmett nodded and did as he was asked before returning his gaze to out the window, silently watching the ground get closer and closer. Once he was able to leave the airplane and make his way in to the airport, he made his way towards the baggage claim. His friend was picking him up in Greenville and then they would drive northwest towards his home state. People pushed and shoved him around the different terminals without so much as an apology, he didn't seem to care though. No one knew what he had done, what he had to endure serving his country, and he preferred it that way.

"Emmett!"

Emmett whipped his head around, eyes scanning the crowd for his friend Justin. It was a fraction of a second before they found him, Justin was hard to miss. His friend stood just two inches taller than his own six-foot frame. They had both played high school football together before Emmett had left to join the army and Justin got a scholarship to play college ball for Clemson.

"Justin!"

Emmett made his way over to his friend and hugged quickly, each patting the other on the back hard in a show of masculinity.

"You look like hell," Justin observed as Emmett let go and started heading towards the baggage claim area to retrieve his bags. Emmett chuckled lowly shaking his head at his friend.

"You would too after a sixteen hour flight."

Justin barked out a laugh, "I suppose you're right."

Emmett should have been watching where he was going, but his mind had wandered again tuning Justin out as he rambled on about the route they were going to take to go back home. He didn't see the five-foot-seven blonde who could have easily been mistaken for a super model that he literally just ran in to. He grabbed a hold of her arms to steady her before he completely knocked her over. Her eyes snapped up to meet his, and what he saw hit him to his very core. It was the same as his own, a lost soul torn by heart ache and grief-a perfect reflection of his own anguish. He didn't get a chance to apologize before an older gentleman called her name and she looked in his direction, all the noise seemed to be just that noise as he held his breath trying to form a sentence or some sort of apology. However, she mumbled one of her own and stepped around him leaving him standing there looking like a complete idiot in the middle of baggage claim in the Greenville airport.

"Emmett, you okay?" Justin waved a hand in front of his Emmett's face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied absently.

"Really? Because you almost knocked that girl over and you didn't even apologize, you just kept staring at her with your mouth open. She probably thinks you're some sort of freak," Justin teased him. Emmett glared at his friend before grinning wickedly and giving his friend a hard shove sending him falling backwards over some suitcases that had been left lying next to an older couple. He reached down and helped Justin to his feet apologizing for his friend's clumsiness trying hard not to laugh.

Emmett turned around glancing in the direction the girl had taken, but she was nowhere to be seen. Turning bam to his friend they made their way to the baggage claim and before long all thoughts of the girl he almost fell on were gone.

Rosalie shut her dad's cell phone after informing her ex-sister-in-law, or who should have been, that she had landed safely in Greenville. Rosalie glanced at herself in the rearview mirror after handing her dad his cell phone back and noted the dark circles under eyes. She looked as exhausted as she felt and thought in horror back to the guy who saved her from surely a bruised tailbone in the airport and thought to herself that he was probably staring at her because she was such a mess.

' _Add mortification to the long list of things I'm feeling,'_ she thought to herself mentally groaning. Her dad and his new wife chatted away in the front seat about how wonderful the town they lived in was and all the things they wanted to do.

"We do need to go over some guidelines while you're here."

Rosalie's gaze snapped towards the front seat at her dad's new wife, "Guidelines?"

"Yes, well more like rules, there are certain expectations that you are to meet in order to stay with us," her dad replied as they continued driving past colonial style houses going further and further away from the city.

Rosalie's face turned hot, of course this would happen. The tears stung hot and wild at her eyes threatening to fall while the lump in her throat threatened to cut off her air supply. Of course this would happen when she had nowhere else to go. She was having a child and being treated like one. Her hand went to her stomach as she curled her feet up underneath her on the seat while they continued to drive and her step mom continued to ramble on and point things out that Rosalie didn't really care about or care to know about, but she was raised to be polite and feigned interest at what this annoying woman had to say.

After what seemed like an eternity to a very tired, pregnant, and depressed Rosalie, they finally pulled up to a quaint two story house.

"We didn't have much time to plan or to get a room together, so what we have is a bunch of knickknacks for furniture," her dad explained as she followed them up the stairs to the second story. Rosalie was so tired she hadn't even bothered to look around the first floor, she just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep for a while. Her dad opened the roam to reveal a cream colored four poster bed with a pink and white picnic checkered bed set, a matching dresser, a brown small desk with her old computer on it in the corner and a white bookshelf at the end of the bed.

"Our room is right here," he pointed down the hall a mere six feet from her door. "The bathroom is this door across from your room, my study is that room in between and the television room is the door next to yours."

Rosalie stood there silently taking everything in as her heart shattered in her chest and a feeling of helplessness threatened to overwhelm her. Her dad squeezed her awkwardly before mentioning something about her being tired and saying he'll be back up in an hour to wake her up for lunch. Rosalie barely heard him as she crawled into the offending pink bed sheets and curled herself into the fetal position before allowing the tears to fall that lead her into a restless sleep.

Justin threw Emmett's bag in the trunk of his beat up Nissan before unlocking the rest of the car and motioning for Emmett to get in. Emmett rolled his eyes at his friend who had always been more of a control freak than he had been. Even though Emmett used to be like that, the army had changed him in some ways. He learned to take things more in stride and that he wasn't always in control anymore. Though controlling his anger and temper had always been something he strived to achieve since before he left for the army, Emmett knew he was a little more laid back than his friend was.

Justin turned the key in the ignition and put the car in reverse, backing out of the parking space. He didn't see the car behind him, but luckily the other driver did and landed on its horn. Justin slammed on his brakes, and the combination of the two sent Emmett into cold sweats and a flashback.

 _The air surrounding him was hot and sticky inside the hummer. Emmett drove while Johnson sat shotgun, and Chambers and Gabriel sat in the back. They were laughing about something following their convoy as it drove from one small town to the next, the names blending into one when the hummer in front of them suddenly flipped skyward with a huge explosion. Emmett veered left off the road, hitting a roadside bomb sending their vehicle sideways. When it landed the horn was blaring and he couldn't hear anything else but that sound._

"Emmett, Emmett!"

Emmett's eyes snapped to Justin's face and finally his brain caught up to where he was. In Justin's car, in the parking lot at the airport in Greenville, South Carolina. Not in a destroyed jeep in the middle of the desert in Iraq.

"Are you okay?"

Emmett wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans before flashing Justin a smile, "Yeah man, I'm fine. Let's get going we want to make Louisville by tonight."

Justin's brow furrowed only slightly as he stared at his friend for a moment before turning around to watch behind him as he started backing out again.

Rosalie woke up with a start, it was too hot in her room she still wasn't used to the humid weather that South Carolina had to offer in the beginning of July. Her clothes stuck to her in unimaginable uncomfortable ways. Even though the air conditioner was clearly running, it was still too hot for Rosalie. She got up in search of her dad and step mom, groggily wandering down the stairs to the first story. Finally taking in her surroundings now that she was semi awake and in search of something to drink, Rosalie noticed when she got to the bottom of the stairs that the living room was off to her left, the front door was in front of her, to her immediate right was the kitchen and off of the front door to the right was the dining room.

She searched the black and white kitchen cabinets for a glass to get some water since all her parents seem to have in the fridge was milk and she was horribly lactose intolerant. Her step mom came in to the kitchen removing a pair of garden gloves and setting them on the table. She said something to Rosalie, who still wasn't fully awake as she gulped down the cool refreshing water that still somehow managed to upset her stomach.

"Sorry?"

Her step mom sighed exasperated, "I said you should come outside it's a beautiful day out and you shouldn't be spending it inside."

Rosalie scrunched up her face in disapproval, the weighed down feeling she was already feeling got heavier at the thought of going outside in to the heat, "I really don't want to. I'm more of a cool weather person and the heat gives me horrible migraines."

Her step mom rolled her eyes at her, "Whatever you say princess."

She snatched the gloves off of the kitchen table and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her leaving behind a puzzled Rosalie wondering as to what she could have possibly done to offend this woman who had taken her father across the country from her a few months ago when she had needed him most. If anything she should be offended herself!

Rosalie sighed heavily opening the dishwasher and putting the glass inside, shutting it softly as she made her way back upstairs to her room. This was going to be a very long pregnancy.

"Can you please keep your eyes on the road and let me navigate?" Emmett reached for the steering wheel bringing the Nissan back into their lane before it drifted in to oncoming traffic.

"I can read a map you know," Justin scoffed between glancing up from the map to the road and back again.

"You're going to get us killed before we even make it to Kentucky!" Emmett snatched the map from Justin's hands. "Pay attention to the road!"

While Emmett was looking at the map and the freeway signs to determine where exactly Justin had taken them, he eyes were off of Justin thus giving Justin the opportunity to throw a bag of chips at Emmett's head.

Emmett glared at Justin from the passenger seat, "Really?"

"What? I didn't do anything," Justin tried to act nonchalant, but the corners of his mouth turned upwards giving away the telltale sign of a smile.

Emmett couldn't help it, he threw the bag of chips back at Justin's head.

"Hey don't distract the driver!"

Emmett laughed getting back to the map. His visit with his family would be short, so they were pushing trying to get to Michigan by tomorrow night. He needed to see his family though before he had to report for duty at his next location; Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

"We need to talk kiddo," Rosalie's dad entered the kitchen where she was cooking dinner for everyone with using just what was in the house since her step mom told her they weren't going to be running to the store for whenever they needed something to complete a meal, she would just have to make do.

"About what?"

"About our guidelines for you living here," her dad took a seat at the kitchen table. Her step mom smiled smugly from her perch next to him as Rosalie continued to cook the hamburger meat for their dinner.

"Okay, shoot," Rosalie replied hesitantly, eyeing her step mom warily. What was she playing at? Some sort of power control?

"You have an eight o'clock curfew unless you are working, in which case you are to come straight home from work is that understood?" Rosalie nodded her head, she could feel her cheeks burning.

"We are going to take you tomorrow to sign up college courses and you're going to do chores around the house, you're not staying here for free."

Rosalie turned back around towards the stove after nodding her head slowly in agreement, her face hot with irritation. This was her life now.


	3. Chapter two: Introduction to Crazy

**Chapter Two: Introduction to Crazy**

Rosalie watched as the season started to change and the leaves with it into brilliant fire colors that lit up when the sun started to set. She had gotten a job with a nearby pizza place and was already into her classes at the local technical college earning her degree in web design. A handful of her friends from back home started to reach out to her to check on her, but for the most part Rosalie kept to herself and made sure she was always busy so she wouldn't have to think. Her stomach had expanded a little barely hinting that she was pregnant, she still wore oversized shirts to hide the fact. Rosalie still wasn't ready to explain to people where the father was and why they weren't together. Daniel had really hurt her in ways that cut to her soul.

Rosalie sighed heavily sitting at her desk staring out her window watching her dad do some yard work in the back yard. She had to get ready for work soon, something she wasn't looking forward to. The other girls at her job were bossy and rude, always talking down to her over some small thing. Her boss though always sang her praises and gave her more and more responsibilities. She enjoyed working in the kitchen, the fast pace kept her mind busy and focused. As Rosalie got dressed for work she started to realize how lonely she really was and decided maybe it was time for her to move on since Daniel had so easily before she even knew they were over.

She tucked her shirt in quickly making her way over to her computer before clicking open her instant messenger and clicking on her friend Tanya's user name. Tanya still lived in Washington, and it seemed a little strange to be looking for someone to date across the country. It didn't seem strange to be asking her friend such a thing, she wasn't going to stay in South Carolina forever after all, she did plan on moving back once she was able to get on her feet and used to being a new mom.

Rosalie typed out a quick message to Tanya, asking her if she knew of anyone who was single and that she was headed to work she'd call when she got off. Her friend was quick to reply with a short message, "Will ask around and ttyl. Love you."

Rosalie smiled as she slipped her shoes on and grabbed her car keys. Maybe things were looking up after all.

Emmett sighed heavily as he dragged himself up the stairs to his barracks room, completely exhausted from the day's activities. Royce King prattled away next to him excitedly waving his around as if to emphasize every word. His new friend was short, standing at only five-foot-seven and obviously full of himself country boy, though he couldn't understand this part seeing as Royce was from Washington of all places. Bringing up the rear was their friend Jasper Whitlock, a tall blonde haired, blue eyed pure country boy from the south. He was lanky and stood at the same height as Emmett did, his southern drawl was thick adding a sort of charm. Royce was rambling on about something, Emmett half listened as he and Jasper exchanged looks rolling their eyes at their friend while Emmett retrieved his keys and they entered his room. Jasper set the beer down on his desk before tossing one to Emmett and then one to Royce.

"Royce, do you ever shut up?" Jasper asked cracking open his beer with a wicked grin crossing his boyish face.

Royce glared at Jasper cracking open his own beer and taking a swig, Emmett laughed cracking his open as well and let the bitter liquid run down his throat. He immediately started feeling a light buzz since none of them had thought to grab anything to eat and they hadn't had anything since noon and it was now eight o'clock at night.

Emmett did feel sympathy for his friend Royce, though. He was only twenty-one-years-old and already going through a divorce. Emmett had been engaged once in his twenty-four years, it didn't end well. He had been burned badly when he came home from work one day to find his fiancée in their bed with another man. Worst part of all of it, he had been supporting her so she didn't have to work. Emmett shook his head when Royce's phone rang.

"Hey Tanya!" Royce listened intently as this girl Tanya talked his ear off, adding in words of agreement here and there. "Wait, was she that one that was spending the night at your house when Maria and I came over to get ready for the ball? The really cute tiny one?"

Emmett's interest suddenly shifted, maybe this was the thing that would stop Royce's ever diminished mood.

"Yeah I remember her, what about her? She is? What happened to her?" Royce's face scrunched up in irritation. "Wow, he did that to her? Well yeah I'm interested, give her my phone number. Okay, I'll talk to you later, bye beautiful."

Royce hung up his phone and immediately turned around and started up Emmett's computer.

Emmett and Jasper stared perplexed at their friend waiting for an explanation of their friend's phone call. They watched as Royce pulled up his social media page and started scrolling through his friends list. Emmett and Jasper came up behind him and watched and Royce navigated his way through his friends list until he stopped on Tanya's profile. Emmett watched curiously as Royce then started going through Tanya's friends and finally stopped on one of her friends' profiles and clicked it, bring up this girl's page for full view. Emmett glanced at the name before Royce started scrolling once again to possibly gauge who this girl was. He was able to catch her first name, but not her last.

"Rosalie," he seemed to just breathe her name.

"Yup," Royce replied, popping the end of the word. He scrolled back up clicking on her profile picture, allowing the picture to be enlarged and take up the whole screen. Emmett had to stop himself, this girl was gorgeous and something in the back of his mind was tugging at him, screaming for him to remember something. Jasper let out a low whistle as Royce began clicking through her pictures. With each one, she became more and more engrained in Emmett's memory. At that moment, Emmett became a little jealous of his friend.

Royce's cell rang again, shattering the silence that had enveloped the three soldiers that had crowded around the computer.

Royce flipped it open, "Hello?"

Emmett was close to Royce so he could only hear a muffled portion of the conversation coming from the other side of the phone call.

"Yeah Tanya asked if I remembered who you were and I do, how have you been gorgeous?"

Adam rolled his eyes at how thick Royce was laying it on. He didn't know this Rosalie girl's story, but he knew how his friend was.

"Yes I heard, I'm sorry that happened to you. How far along are you? Three months? So you just passed the first trimester then?"

Emmett let out a low whistle, she was pregnant! She was gorgeous and she was pregnant. Emmett stared at his beer, listening absent mindedly while Royce continued his conversation. An empty crumpled beer can hit him in the chest, and when he looked up Royce was still on the phone, but Jasper was staring at him intently. Emmett shrugged and tossed him another beer.

"Okay beautiful, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Call me when you get out of class," Royce snapped his phone shut and leaned back in the chair, taking a long swig of his beer.

Emmett stared at him for a moment, his brow creased before he pulled out his pack of Marlboro reds and made his way to the door. He could hear Jasper and Royce gulping their beers down before setting the cans on the desk and following him outside. The air in Fort Hood was dry and still hot, even at this late hour in the day.

"Well?" Royce asked looking excitedly between his two friends.

"Well what?" Emmett responded slowly, dragging out his words in the hopes of not revealing that he knew what Royce was talking about and that his interest was certainly peaked.

"Aren't you going to ask me about my new girl?"

Emmett could feel Jasper's eyes on him, staring at him trying to gauge a reaction from him. He took a long drag off his cigarette, exhaling slowly, "What about her?"

"So get this, she was dating this guy back in Washington, I guess they were engaged and she caught him cheating on her after they found out she was pregnant. So now she's living in South Carolina and going to school to get her degree in web design and she's working too. Apparently, she and Tanya went to school together back in Washington and she's ready to start dating again."

Emmett took another drag, Jasper did the same with his eyes still glued to Emmett. He nodded his head, "That's cool."

"Maria is going to be so jealous when she hears about this," Royce snickered.

Emmett clenched his fist that was inside his pocket, trying hard not to react to what Royce had just said. He was just using this poor girl to get back at his wife. She obviously had been through, and was still going through, a rough time. She definitely didn't deserve that.

"Well I don't know about you guys," Royce flicked his own cigarette over the balcony. "But I'm going to head in. Night."

Emmett stared intently at the ground, smoking his cigarette almost down to the filter. He could still feel Jasper's eyes on him.

"Do I have something on my face?"

Jasper took a drag before rushing the smoke out of his mouth in a loud exhale, "No, but somethin's botherin' you."

Emmett flicked his cigarette over the edge, "No, nothing's bothering me."

Jasper cocked an eyebrow at him, taking his last drag off of his cigarette and followed suit flicking his over the edge of the balcony.

Emmett grew irritated at Jasper's constant stare and prodding question, "It's nothing!"

Jasper shrugged and started walking away, calling over his shoulder, "See you tomorrow, hopefully by then your panties will be out of the wad they're in."

Emmett huffed in annoyance and went back into his room slamming the door and throwing himself on his bed. He stared at the ceiling angrily, not knowing why it really bothered him the way Royce had talked about this girl he knew nothing about. He reached out and turned the bedroom light off and noticed a blue glow still filling the room. Looking around, Emmett noticed that his computer was still on and when his eyes finally focused saw that it was still open to a picture of Rosalie. He slowly got up from his bed making his way over to his computer and slumped in the chair at the desk, staring intently at it. She was gorgeous, that he knew. She had been hurt, she was alone and pregnant trying to make her way in the world. From that he deduced she was a lot stronger than most out there. To be so shattered and still try to move on, he knew the feeling. He knew how it felt to be barely able to breathe and still force yourself out of bed in the morning. What was he saying?! He didn't know her, he only knew what Royce had told him and it was second hand information from Royce's friend Tanya. Emmett slammed the screen shut, sighing heavily and rubbing his eyes tiredly in the palms of his hands. He needed to get a grip on his sanity, and quickly because Royce already had her eating out of the palm of his hand.

Rosalie hung up the phone with a small smile on her face, maybe there was hope for her after all. She and Royce had talked for about forty-five minutes just catching up since the last time they had seen each other and she had been up front and honest about her situation. He had called her beautiful and gorgeous, something she had rarely heard in her life. She looked exhaustedly at her bed, but wanted to see his social media page to see where he was now. So she jumped quickly on her own page and pulled up his profile, sending him a friend request before beginning to scroll through his pictures. He was still cute, and charming. The last time she had seen him, she had been at Tanya's spending the night with her and her sister Kate when he had come over with his wife Maria to get ready for the military ball and he had needed help getting his uniform on. He had looked at her in earnest with a smile that made her swoon, but she had to quickly remind herself that he was married. She was the only one that had been left in the room, because Tanya, Kate and their mom had gone with Maria to go help her with getting her dress on and fitted. She had reached up with shaky hands, straightening his tie after buttoning the tops buttons on his shirt and the proximity to him had made her dizzy and breathless and he had noticed, but said nothing. Just reached up with his own hands grasping hers and thanked her. Now they were getting a divorce and he was showing his interest in her, something she still couldn't seem to wrap her brain around.

Rosalie didn't try to think about it too much as she clicked through picture after picture finally stopping on one of him and two other guys.

"Oh," she immediately felt a sense of familiarity looking at the photo at his friend with the darker hair. He was handsome as all hell, his smile reaching from one ear to the other. You could tell his friend was genuine in this smile because it was the type that reached your eyes, which she noticed his were an icy blue. A really familiar icy blue. Rosalie gasped, her hands flying up to her mouth as her brain finally caught up with what her mind was trying to tell her. It was the guy was she plowed into at the airport and had caught her before she fell!

Rosalie searched to see if Royce had mentioned in the picture caption what his name was, and he had. Rosalie finally had a name to put to the face and it was Emmett. She shook her head in disbelief and put thoughts of him in the back of her mind, tucked away in a small box. She sighed, the compulsion to pull up her ex-fiancée's page was overwhelming. Ignoring the voice in her head she clicked open his profile page and saw his main picture had changed to one of him and the girl he had left her for. Rosalie felt her heart shatter seeing this send covered her mouth with her hand to muffle the sobs that betrayed her determination to move on. She shut down her computer then crawled into bed crying softly into her pillow vowing to forget about him and throw herself into this new relationship. It probably wasn't the smartest of things to do, but given where she was at in her life she just wanted to feel loved. She wanted to heal, and hopefully this new relationship with Royce would do just that.

Rosalie reached over and turned off the light and silently cried herself to sleep that night trying to fight the ache in her chest. Though her night of sleep was fitful and wracked with some of the craziest dreams she had ever had.

One vivid one had Daniel smiling cruelly at her shoving her away, leaving her asking him where he was going and watched as he walked over to this new girl and started kissing her passionately in front of Rosalie. She then felt a tug at her arm and turning around she was face to face with Royce, who leaned in and kissed her with just as much passion, but when he pulled away he had morphed into his friend Emmett. Emmett leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers making her feel completely at ease and whispered to her, "I'll always love you."

Rosalie woke up gasping, "What in the world was that?"

She glanced over at her alarm clock, her eyes trying to adjust to the dark. The clock read that it was three in the morning. Rosalie quietly got out of bed and silently made her way downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She gulped it down, her mind replaying dream Emmett's words over and over in her mind. She chalked it up to her mind just playing tricks on her with a combination of pregnancy hormones. When she was finished she stood there in the kitchen, the only sound was that coming from the kitchen clock. Sometimes the silence was better than all the thoughts that ran through her head. After giving herself a moment to collect herself, Rosalie made her way back upstairs crawling under the warm covers and hesitantly tried to force herself back to sleep.


	4. Chapter Three: Friends

**Chapter three: Friends**

Emmett woke up groaning, his head hurt and it was ungodly to be getting up at four-thirty in the morning, but he had to get ready for PT. He laid in bed for a moment staring at the ceiling, his mind grasping at the last tidbits of the dream he had just been having. His head was swirling with confusion as he registered that the dream had been about Rosalie, someone he had never met before. What even had him more rattled was that it was a pleasant dream and that he had found himself now wanting to go back to sleep and pulled back in to it. He had dreamed that he was walking along the beach back home on the edges on Lake Michigan and when he looked up she was there. She had turned around when she heard him approach and smiled warmly at him whispering a greeting to him, her hair flying around her face though he didn't feel the wind. He gently tucked a strand behind her ear and leaned down and kissed her, feeling her arms wrap around his neck pulling him closer. He had smiled against her lips and felt her smile back. It all felt so real, that it started to scare him. He threw his blankets off and allowed the cold air in his room to wake him up. He wouldn't let some silly dream get to him and got dressed for PT, grabbing his keys and headed out the door to go pick Royce and Jasper up.

He knocked on Royce's door who always seemed to take a little longer than he and Jasper did, before he noticed Jasper coming out of his room and making his way down the hall towards him.

"Mornin'," Jasper nodded at Emmett with a somewhat defensive stance before his eyed narrowed as he studied Emmett's irritated expression. "Looks like you didn't get any sleep. Were you up all night playin' spank the monkey to that picture of that girl?"

"Would you lay off and stop talking about girls like that?" Emmett barked out narrowing his own eyes at Jasper. Jasper shrugged leaning against the wall and finding something else to focus his attention on while they waited on Royce. They didn't have to wait long because after a few seconds Royce opened his door, country music came playing out of his room softly as Emmett realized it was Gary Allen's voice.

"You going to turn that shit off?" Emmett asked irritated.

"What crawled up your ass and died?"

"Nothing, let's just go we're going to be late and I would really like not to be yelled at today," Emmett said turning on his heel making his way out of the barracks towards his truck. Royce looked at Jasper with a puzzled look on his face. Jasper just shrugged his shoulders again and the two of them followed Emmett silently.

Emmett climbed into his truck and slammed his door shut.

"No seriously, what's crawled up your ass man?"

"Nothing!" Emmett snapped turning the key into the ignition and reversing the truck out of its parking spot and threw it into drive peeling out of the parking lot.

"He didn't get any sleep," Jasper stated.

"Shut up," Emmett snarled.

"Why didn't you get any sleep?" Royce prodded.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it, I'm just tired can we please just drop it?"

His two friends shifted uncomfortably in the truck next to him as he tried his hardest not to speed to their destination. Emmett felt like he was suffocating in the cab of the truck, he definitely needed to work out this morning and hopefully get her off of his mind and release some of the tension that had seemed to build up in his shoulders.

When they pulled up, most of the soldiers in their unit were already there jumping up and down in the cold in an attempt to stay warm. Emmett exited the truck not even waiting for his friends to exit the vehicle. Before he knew it they were running and the cold no longer seemed to bother him. Emmett loathed running, but this morning he was thankful for it, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. The cold nipped at his ears and nose, but he ignored it. His lungs started to burn and his legs started to ache, but he ignored it. He felt the tension slowly starting to leave his shoulders, his mind started to clear. When they were finished he waited by the truck for Jasper and Royce, the cold starting to seep in. He shivered slightly, spotting them making their way over to him. He climbed into the truck, Jasper and Royce following closely behind, and started it blasting the heat that he knew would be useless in a little while. The ride back to the barracks was quiet, and when they arrived they climbed out in the same silence they had climbed in with slowing momentarily as all three pulled out their own cigarettes and lit them leaning against the tailgate of his truck.

"Sorry about this morning," Emmett said sheepishly. "Couldn't sleep last night."

Royce took a drag, "It happens, just quit being an asshole."

Emmett chuckled at this ironic statement coming from his friend, "Deal."

Jasper watched the exchange and though his gaze lingered on Emmett a little longer, he exhaled, "Alright ladies, let's go get ready for work."

Rosalie was exhausted, being pregnant was finally catching up to her. She had stopped at the local Chinese food place on the way home from school and picked up some wonton soup, it seemed to be the only thing that she was able to eat and keep down. Her morning sickness was intense and she often found herself in the bathroom after eating something. She was four months into her pregnancy and had a doctor's appointment in an hour to go get an ultrasound.

Rosalie's dad called her from the living room as she was sitting at the table to eat.

"Yes dad?"

"Remember you're not supposed to eat or drink anything until after the ultrasound."

Rosalie sighed heavily, she hadn't eaten anything all day and she was starving. She got up from the table and put her soup in the fridge as her dad made his way into the kitchen grabbing the keys off the table.

"Ready to go?"

Rosalie was actually ready to go, she was somewhat excited and hopeful that they would be able to tell her if she was having a boy or girl. Plus her due date kept changing so she was also hopeful that they would have a more definitive due date for her.

She climbed into the PT Cruiser with her dad and buckled up, her dad turning the radio station to the golden oldies. She stared out the window in awe at how beautiful everything was in the fall, though it was rather crisp outside it still was a gorgeous sight to see the fire colored trees that surrounded the colonial style homes of South Carolina. They hopped on the freeway and made their way into downtown Greenville towards the ultrasound office. It was separate from her OBGYN's office so they had to go a little further into town. The sounds of the Beach Boys came over the radio and her dad sang along to it while weaving in and out of traffic. They finally made it to the building and made their way up to the technician's office. Sitting down in a chair with a headache coming on, Rosalie leaned back against the wall closing her eyes. Her dad plopped down in the chair next to her picking up a Sports Illustrated magazine. Flipping through it while waiting for her name to be called, her dad started nudging her.

"Rosalie, look at this!"

Her dad handed her the magazine and there in the background of a picture of the World Series was a man who looked almost exactly like her dad. In fact he resembled him so much she could have sworn it was her dad if she hadn't been with him on that day.

"That's crazy! He looks exactly like you!"

"Rosalie?" Rosalie's head snapped up at the call of her name, her eyes met the nurses. "Are you Rosalie?"

"Yes," Rosalie stood up and followed the nurse into the back to a private room where there was a patient table for her to lie down on and an ultrasound machine.

The nurse handed her a couple of blue paper sheets and told her to tuck them into her waistband and to pull her shirt up to her bra and then tuck the other one there.

"A technician will be with you shortly," she smiled at Rosalie, but it was more like a grimace. That was the one thing Rosalie did hate about living in the Bible Belt everyone seemed to judge her for being a young, single mom. She waited for the nurse to leave the room then climbed up on the table and did as she had been told to do. Rosalie waited patiently for the technician to come in and after about twenty minutes, the nurse's head popped back in the room.

"Sorry, we're really busy right now, but someone will be in here shortly just didn't want you to think we had forgotten about you," the nurse shut the door again before Rosalie even had a chance to respond. Rosalie shifted uncomfortably on the table, she felt a flutter and knew it was her baby moving around. She put her hand on her stomach to calm the baby and herself, breathing deeply. It was freezing in the room and she was starting to run thin on patience.

"Hello!" An older, thin lady breezed through the door shutting it softly behind her. "Are you Rosalie?"

Rosalie smiled at this new woman, she seemed inviting and genuine. She had short grey streaked hair and wore scrubs with pink ribbons on them. She felt at ease finally and this new woman washed the bitter taste that the nurse had left her with out of her mouth.

"Yes, I am."

"Awesome, I'm Margaret and I'm your technician today," she made her way over to the sink and washed her hands, humming a happy tune as she reached up into the cupboard afterwards and pulled out a tube of blue jelly. She ran it under the warm water, while Rosalie watched. "So how far along are you?"

"About four months," Rosalie replied turning her head back to stare at the ceiling.

"Oh that's wonderful, you know I might be able to see the sex of the baby today. No promises though!"

Margaret chuckled to herself as she pulled the stool over and poured a little bit of the warm blue jelly on Rosalie's stomach and fired up the ultrasound machine. Taking the wand in her right hand she used it to spread the jelly around Rosalie's stomach and then turned back towards the screen. She started taking several pictures and adding measurements in her and there, took a few more pictures and finally asked Rosalie if she would like to hear the heartbeat. Rosalie answered yes quickly and before she knew it the sounds of the baby's heartbeat filled the silent room. A single tear rolled down Rosalie's face as she listened to her baby's heartbeat for the first time. Her heart broke a little knowing she was doing this alone and wished that Daniel was there with her.

"Okay now for the sex," Margaret said slowly moving the wand around pressing slightly into Rosalie's stomach. "And look at that, she's not ashamed at all!"

Rosalie looked at the screen, "She?"

"Yes honey, I am ninety-five percent sure you are having a little girl! Congratulations!"

Rosalie wanted to cry, she had wanted a daughter so badly and always had promised she would name her after her younger sister who had passed away when she was little.

"When am I due?"

"Well from the looks of it, you're due on Valentine's day," Margaret removed the wand from her stomach and started printing off the pictures for the doctor. "Would you like some pictures to take home with you?"

"Oh, yes please," Rosalie said politely taking a handful of paper towels that Margaret had handed her to wipe the jelly off her stomach.

"Okay, I'll just print these off for you and then you are free to leave!"

Margaret printed off the pictures and gave them to her, hugging her before she left, "Good luck! Hopefully I'll get to see you again."

Rosalie thanked the technician and pulled her clothes back into place, leaving the room with a Rosalie smile on her face. She made her way back to the waiting room and asked her dad for his cell phone and she called Daniel.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's me," Rosalie breathed in a shaky voice. "I just wanted to let you know the due date has changed to February fourteenth and that we're having a girl."

"A girl?"

"Yes, a girl."

Rosalie heard him draw in a long breath, "That's awesome, thanks for letting me know I have to go now, Zoe is waiting for me."

"Okay, bye," Rosalie snapped the cell phone shut and handed it back to her dad.

"A girl huh?" her dad repeated, shoving his cell phone in his coat pocket.

"Yes, a girl."

Her dad wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently, "Good, payback is a bitch."

She laughed swatting her dad's arm as they made their way to the elevator and down to the parking lot. Maybe things were going to be okay after all.


	5. Chapter Four: Baby Girl

**Chapter Four: Baby Girl**

They were hanging out in Royce's room that night after a long day at work, moving everything from one storage container to the other. Royce was playing on his computer, instant messaging Rosalie and sending her pictures from his webcams of him singing country music. Jasper looked over at Emmett and mimicked putting a gun to his head and firing. Emmett laughed taking a bite of his hamburger they had picked up on the way back to the barracks. Royce's phone rang and he answered it almost immediately.

"Hey baby girl."

Emmett almost gagged on his food at how thick Royce was starting to lay it on Rosalie. He felt awful that she didn't know that he was still talking to Maria and begging her to come back, though he talked nothing except for bad comments about her behind her back. He mostly tuned out their conversation until Royce suddenly said his name.

"Yeah just hanging out with my friends Jasper and Emmett, do you want to say hi?"

Emmett's head snapped up giving Royce a puzzled look, before shooting Jasper a frown. Jasper shrugged his shoulders as Emmett swallowed his food watching Royce toss Jasper his cell phone.

"Hello darling', so you're the one Royce won't shut up about," Emmett snorted almost spitting his soda out. Jasper wasn't lying, Royce took every opportunity to talk about Rosalie as if he were rubbing her in his face. Though he knew this wasn't true because he hadn't said anything about his feelings towards the girl he never talked to.

"I'm Jasper, yes I'm the blonde one in the picture," Jasper laughed at something she said. "Yes he told us you were pregnant, also said you had an ultrasound today."

This was news to Emmett, his ears perked up. Royce hadn't said anything to him about Rosalie having an ultrasound, it must have been when he had run inside the corner store for a pack of cigarettes. He continued to eat his food and tried to not look interested as he listened to Jasper's conversation.

"Well I've seen a picture of you too, and you're not too bad lookin' I guess Royce lucked out, his soon to be ex-wife isn't really that much to look at," Jasper laughed at something Rosalie said. "Yes I'm from the south, where are you at? South Carolina? That's not really the south."

Jasper laughed again, obviously teasing her. Emmett cocked an eyebrow at his friend crumpling up his wrapper and throwing it in the garbage can and took another drink of his soda.

"Well here darlin' I'm going to let you talk to our friend Emmett now, he looks like he's chompin' at the bit to talk to you," Jasper laughed again. "You have a good night."

With that Jasper tossed Emmett the phone and he almost dropped it. His palms were sweating and his mouth suddenly felt dry.

"Hello?"

"Hi, you must be Emmett. The one with the pretty smile in the picture."

God even her voice was sweet. Emmett suddenly found himself at a loss for words as his brain tried to catch up with his mouth.

"Pretty? No. Handsome? Yes," she laughed and his heart started to melt a little. "So, a little birdie says you had an ultrasound today."

Emmett found himself smiling as he listened to her tell him about how her visit went with the technician and he frowned when she told him about the nurse. He congratulated her when she told him she was having a little girl, but then grew curious when she started to sound a little down when she started talking about baby names.

"Why would it be a problem to name her after your sister?" Emmett asked, noticing that Royce had reappeared. Royce picked up his own food and started eating again, obviously in no rush to get back on the phone with Rosalie so Emmett grabbed a cigarette out of his pack and wandered outside with the phone.

"Well my younger sister died when I was little," Rosalie's voice grew very small and vulnerable. "I don't think my mother would appreciate me naming my daughter after her."

"Fuck what everyone else thinks, it's your kid. You should be able to name her anything you want."

"It's really, really complicated Emmett," her voice became strained. Emmett tried to relax a little bit pausing to take a drag off his cigarette, he had to be careful he didn't want to scare her off.

"Well, do you want to tell me about it? I'm a good listener and a pretty good friend," he offered.

"I wish I could, but I have to be going to bed soon, I have school in the morning and I'm a couple of hours ahead of you," she sounded like she had wanted to say more, so Emmett took the opportunity.

"I can give you my phone number if you'd like and you can call me in a few so I have your number and I can call you on my lunch break tomorrow if you'd like."

He hoped he didn't sound too desperate to talk to her, but he found himself not wanting to get off the phone with her. She was silent on her end for a little bit and he held his breath waiting for her to answer.

"Okay, it'd be nice to have someone to talk to."

"Okay," he rattled off his phone number to her and then headed back in the room wishing her a goodnight and handed the phone back to Royce who looked curiously at him as he threw himself down on Royce's bed.

"Hey baby," Royce said through a mouthful of food.

Jasper threw his food wrapper at Emmett who threw it back.

"What?"

"Did the two of you have a nice conversation?"

"Shut up. All she was saying was she was having problems with what to name her daughter and I offered some advice," Emmett an arm over his eyes to block out the light. Now that he was full, he was ready for bed. Royce was still talking to Rosalie in the background.

"Alright baby, I'll let you go. You have a good night and dream of me, I'll be dreaming of you," Emmett rolled his eyes internally gagging at Royce.

Royce hung up the phone, "I think she loves me."

"Aren't you still in love with your ex-wife?" Emmett asked monotonously from the bed.

"Nah, this girl is perfect. She's gorgeous, already has a kid on the way, she's smart, and funny."

Emmett got up quickly from the bed and made his way to the door.

"Where you goin'?" Jasper asked.

"To bed, I'm exhausted and we have PT in the morning remember?"

"No we don't," Royce said through bites of food.

"We don't?"

"No tomorrow is Saturday, we don't even work."

Emmett stopped abruptly. He had completely forgotten what day it was even, which meant he could call Rosalie in the morning if he wanted to. She must have also forgotten what day it was, because he was pretty sure there wasn't any classes on the weekend.

"I'm still going to bed, I'm exhausted from this week."

Jasper snorted, "Yeah it must be hard being on your period."

Emmett chuckled a little at this comment before shooting him a glare, "You would know."

Royce laughed so hard he started to choke on his food a little. With that Emmett left the room for his own. When he got there he turned on the light and sat down in front of his computer and opened his social media page. He automatically started searching for Rosalie's page through Royce's friend connections. When he found hers he sent her a friend request and leaned back in his chair to wait. Emmett didn't have to wait very long, because within a couple of minutes he got the notification that she had accepted it. He sent her a quick message with his instant messaging contact information and opened his instant messenger. Within seconds it opened up and there was a message from Rosalie.

"Hi."

"I'm not keeping you up am I?" he typed out.

"No, I can't sleep, my stomach is getting too big for me to be comfortable."

His hands hovered over the keyboard as he thought of what to say next to her, "Did you know tomorrow is Saturday?"

It was a stupid question and Emmett mentally kicked himself for asking it. He sat there waiting for a reply from her and saw that she was typing.

"No I totally forgot, I've been so busy this week I actually forgot what day it was."

"If you'd like I can call you in the morning?" he typed out. Emmett waited patiently for a response. The next thing he knew his cell phone was buzzing in his pocket.

He didn't recognize the number, but decided to answer it anyways.

"Hello?"

"Hi," Rosalie breathed out. She was whispering because her parents were already asleep and she didn't want to wake them up since she was calling from the house phone. She didn't know why, but she was nervous about calling him and she couldn't figure out why.

"Hi beautiful, how's your night going?"

"Well since we last talked about twenty minutes ago, it's been pretty uneventful other than some stranger sending me a friend request and now I'm on the phone with him," she teased. Rosalie heard him laugh on the other end and felt a smile grow on her face. Emmett seemed to be pretty easy to talk to.

"I would guess so since it's pretty late over there, you sure you don't have school tomorrow?"

"No I have school only Monday through Thursday."

"Okay as long as I'm not keeping you up late," his voice was laced with a hint of worry.

"Would you stop fussing over me, I'm pregnant not glass."

She could picture him rolling his eyes at her and heard him chuckle, "Okay, I just don't want you to be too tired in the morning."

"I'm going to be tired regardless, I'm pregnant. I can't ever get enough sleep," she replied sarcastically making him laugh again.

"So what's this business about you being worried about naming your daughter after your sister?"

Rosalie cringed, she didn't want to drag him into her family drama. It was overwhelming to her most of the time.

"My mom, she's," Rosalie hesitated. "She wants things a certain way when it comes to me because I'm her first born and everyone is always telling her how much I'm like her, but I'm not. I only sound like her and look like her, but I'm far from being anything like her."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Rosalie thought she heard movement coming from her parents' room, "Hold on a second."

She got up quietly and shut her bedroom door with a soft click.

"What did you ask?"

"What do you mean by your mom has certain things planned for you? You're your own person aren't you?"

"Yes, it's just a long story and a lot of drama you probably don't want to hear about."

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know," he retorted.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, tell me."

Rosalie took a deep breath, "Alright I'll make you a deal, I'll tell you a little bit about my life tonight as long as you promise to call me tomorrow."

Emmett didn't seem to hesitate, "Deal."

Rosalie launched into telling him about the argument she and her mother got into when her mother had found out she was pregnant. Her mother had yelled at her instead that this wasn't what she had planned out for her life and that she was too young to be a grandmother and that there was still time to fix this.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope. You have to understand my mom though, she had a rough upbringing and she only wants the best for us," Rosalie rushed out.

"Rosalie, stop making excuses for her. That's not right, a parent should never say that to their child. And hinting at your own kid to get an abortion? That's horrible!"

"It's really nothing Emmett, that's just who she is."

"Well it's not right sweetheart," his voice was laced with a sadness she had heard before, it matched her own.

"That's my mom though," she replied quietly. Rosalie yawned into the phone and hadn't realized that somewhere during their conversation she had laid down in bed and was quite tired now.

"You sound exhausted, lay down and get some sleep. I'll call you tomorrow beautiful."

Her heart fluttered when he called her beautiful, but she was too exhausted to notice, "Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

They whispered their goodbyes and Rosalie turned off the light, rolling over on to her side and hugged her pillow to her. She was glad she had made a new friend, even if he was the friend of the guy she was seeing.


	6. Chapter 5: Road Trip

**Author's note:**

 **Thank you for you reviews, the very few that there are. I'm sorry it's taken me so ling to update been dealing with health issues and the story of my Emmett and me is over for now. The story you are reading is our story, though the parts of Emmett are mostly fictional, the interactions between Emmett and Rosalie are true and as accurate as my memory allows me. The characters are all real, they are all very real people that were ingrained into our lives and as of now only one remains between the two of us. I will not tell you how the story ends, but for new we are on pause. Thanks for sticking with me.**

 **~Brandtishot**

 **Chapter five: Road Trip**

"Got everything packed up?" Royce had asked for the millionth time as they finished loading his car up.

"Yes we have everything," Emmett repeated himself for what felt like the millionth time.

"Snacks? Cigarettes? Music? Drinks?" Royce listed off.

Jasper smacked Royce in the back of the head before Emmett could reach over and do it himself, "He said yes, now let's go!"

They were on a road trip after requesting some leave and having it approved to all head up to Washington so Royce could finish filing for divorce and visit all his friends. Royce had asked Emmett and Jasper if they wanted to come along and meet some hot girls in the process.

"Wait what about maps?"

"YES!" Jasper and Emmett both yelled at the same time.

They finally pulled out of the base and on to the freeway and started heading north to Colorado to stop and see one of Royce's friends Alice. Alice was also a single mom going through a divorce and was from what Emmett could tell, a really sweet girl. They were also stopping along the way in Oklahoma to visit another one of Royce's friends Nevaeh. Apparently, Royce wanted to introduce Jasper to her since they were both country bred.

After about an hour of listening to Royce sing along to the likes of Gary Allen and Toby Keith, Emmett ejected the CD and almost threw it out the window on to the freeway. He dug through his own collection looking for something more tolerable.

"Hey I was singing to that!" Royce protested.

"No, you were dying to that!" Emmett retorted.

"Oh thank God, did he stop singin' or did I go deaf?" Jasper chimed in from the back seat.

"He stopped!"

"What?"

Emmett and Jasper howled with laughter while Royce mumbled something about them not appreciating good music. Emmett popped in some Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody started playing from the speakers.

"Turn it up!" Jasper called from the back seat.

Soon all three soldiers were belting the lyrics at the top of their lungs flying on the freeway as the countryside began to disappear behind them.

Four hours later they made their first stop at a gas station, Royce got out to put gas in the car while Jasper ran inside for cigarettes and Emmett had to use the restroom. Emmett handed Jasper some money to get him a pack as well before running off to the restroom. When he was finished and walking back towards the car, he noticed Jasper was sprawled out in the back seat toying with a cigarette that wasn't lit, rolling his eyes in annoyance. Royce was chattering away on his cell phone when he approached, so Emmett got back in the car and eyed Jasper.

"Rosalie," Jasper answered.

"Alright darlin', I'll let you know when we get to Nevaeh's and her mom's. Yeah she's just a friend, I promise. Okay bye," Royce hung up and as soon as he climbed in the car his phone rang again. Emmett glanced over at Royce as he answered the phone, "Hello beautiful, yeah Emmett and I should be there in a few days. Can't wait to see you and the little man, alright bye Alice."

Royce started the car and pulled out on to the road towards the freeway.

"How many girls are you seeing?" Jasper finally asked from the back.

"Officially or unofficially?"

"What's that supposed to mean? You're either seeing a girl or you're not," Emmett said in annoyance.

"Well see there's a difference, I'm mostly using these girls to get my rocks off since my wife won't and wants to leave, plus Rosalie is really pretty. Prettier than Maria, so either Maria gets jealous and comes back, or I get a prettier, new wife."

Emmett had to bite his tongue as Jasper and Royce laughed at his admission. Emmett was raised to treat women with respect, not use and abuse them. It was more than obvious that Royce didn't care about these girls' feelings one iota. What killed him even more, is that Rosalie was an unsuspecting, young, vulnerable, and pregnant girl. She didn't deserve to be toyed with like Royce was doing to her.

Emmett remained quiet and sometimes changed the music for the other two for the rest of the car ride to Oklahoma. It was near five in the evening when they finally pulled up to a house that appeared to be converted from a doublewide. This was clearly Nevaeh's house. What Emmett didn't expect was this rotund girl to come flying-well as fast as a two hundred and fifty pound girl can waddle-out of the house and come straight for them, huffing and puffing the whole way in a tank top and jeans while holding in her arms this alien looking baby who had absolutely no hair, ears like a JK Rowling house elf, and a dress, which made him assume that this baby was in fact a girl. Not far behind these two creatures came an older woman with greying hair who looked very much like the younger girl, aside from the fact that her skin was as wrinkled as a prune and her teeth were as yellow as an ear of corn and she weighed probably about fifty more pounds. Emmett shuttered thanking whatever God there was that was listening that Royce was _not_ trying to set the two of them up and that his mom raised him to have good matters.

"Is that Royce I see?" The first creature shrieked with a Southern drawl. Emmett found her voice to be offensive to his ears and hoped she wouldn't do that again.

"Hello beautiful," Royce greeted her as she hugged him, wheezing for air. Royce kissed her on the cheek and whispered something in her ear making her giggle. Emmett watched the exchange as Royce introduced Jasper to her, to which Jasper immediately started pouring on his Southern charm and had her eating out of his hand as well. Then Royce did something awful, he turned his and the girl's attention to him.

"Nevaeh, this is Emmett," she lunged towards him wrapping her arms around his skinny frame laughing a hello in the process. Emmett hesitantly hugged her back, though very acutely noticed that she smelled like grease and he could feel her arm sweat through his shirt. The baby gurgled and he looked down to find her staring up at him with a huge grin on her face, gnawing on her finger with her gums. Despite the fact that she had absolutely no hair, Emmett had to admit that she was a pretty cute baby.

"Who's this cute girl?" Emmett cooed reaching for the baby.

"Oh that's Naomi," Nevaeh answered still trying to catch her breath.

"Come see Uncle Emmett," he took Naomi from Nevaeh and followed everyone inside, tuning out the rasping, low voice of Nevaeh's mother, whose name he later learned was Nicole. Emmett spent most of his time playing with Naomi on the floor and some of her toys while Nevaeh sat on the couch between Royce and Jasper laughing like a hyena while each had an arm thrown behind her. Nicole insisted she get a few photos in right away as Emmett picked Naomi up off the floor and had her giggling like crazy as he made silly faces at her.

When they were done, Nevaeh said it was time for Naomi to have her bottle and Royce eagerly jumped up off the couch and all but grabbed Naomi from Emmett's arms offering to feed her. This left Emmett with absolutely no buffer between him and Nevaeh and her family. He quietly excused himself and went out on the front porch and lit a cigarette. As he opened his phone and started searching through his contacts for Bethany's number, he heard the screen door behind him open and shut. Nicole had followed him outside and lit her own cigarette taking a long drag from it as he sighed heavily and shut his phone. He wanted desperately to hear Rosalie's voice to calm his nerves, but now he'd have to wait, hopefully not too long since she was probably going to bed soon.

"So soldier," Nicole began. "What's your story?"

Emmett took a drag from his cigarette, "What do you mean?"

"What's your story? You have this look about you, like someone stole your favorite toy."

Emmett chuckled at the irony of her choice of words, Rosalie was far from a toy. At least to him, but to Royce he could see that.

"Have you ever fell for someone you've never met before?" Emmett asked, dragging his words out slowly.

"What do you mean?" Nicole asked, exhaling a plume of smoke.

Emmett took a long drag off his cigarette, cautiously trying to think of the right words to say, "There's this girl, and we've never officially met. We talk on the phone all the time and on instant messenger and every time we do, I can't help but smile."

Emmett leaned on the porch railing staring out into the quiet neighborhood, smiling wistfully remembering some of the conversations he and Rosalie had. Nicole watched him quietly, continuing to smoke while she waited for him to continue.

"She's amazing though, you know? She makes me laugh, she's beautiful and smart, and we can talk for hours and it never gets old."

A comfortable silence settled between the two of them while they finished their cigarettes.

"I know there's a 'but' in this story," Nicole finally said. "So what is it?"

"She's not mine, she's someone else's and that someone else is a friend. Not only that, but he's cheating on her and using her and I don't know what to do," Emmett said hanging his head in his hands. Nicole came up behind him and rubbed his back in a motherly fashion, Emmett then realized he had judged her too quickly when he first met her and let himself relax feeling guilty for his early assumptions.

"Want my advice?" she asked stepping away from him so she could look him in the eyes.

"Please."

"You don't tell her," Emmett opened his mouth to speak, but Nicole held up a hand to silence him. "You continue being her friend, because she's going to need it. It's not your place to tell her what's right or wrong in this world or how cruel it is. You be that shoulder she needs to cry on and that strength she's going to need to pull herself back up. You show her how beautiful she is and that she is worth something. That's all I got kid, now let's get back inside before they send a search party."

Emmett put his cigarette out in the ashtray on the railing and followed her inside, feeling slightly better about his disposition. Little did he realize that this sound advice she had just given him would help him in the future.

Rosalie stared at her phone willing it to ring with her mind. She was lying in bed absolutely exhausted after her shift at work, her feet and back aching from standing for the past six hours with little relief in sight. The room was only illuminated by the small lamp on her nightstand, her computer had long been shut off and she felt her heart ache. Royce hadn't called her or even texted her to let her know that they had made it safe to his friend's house. He had called earlier to let her know that they were going there to visit her because she was going through a divorce and needed some support.

Rosalie knew with a sunken heart that he was lying, but she chose to ignore it. She thought of calling Emmett and even went as far as pulling up his contact information and selected his phone number. But when she got to it, her finger hovered hesitantly over the call button. It wasn't right that she was starting to depend on their conversations to make herself feel better, especially since she was seeing Royce.

Rosalie shoved the phone under her pillow and began to fall into a fitful slumber only to be woken up after about thirty minutes when her phone chimed that she had a text message.

' _Miss you, made it.'_

Rosalie wanted to throw her phone across the room and watch it shatter into a thousand pieces, but she thought better of it and shoved it deeper under her pillow, huffing angrily as she tried to get comfortable again. Though it was clearly stuffed under her pillow, the offensive cell phone chimed again alerting her to another text message. It was James again, this time simply telling her he loved her.

Rosalie instantly felt guilty for being mad at him and grew angry at herself for being so childish. She quickly typed out a similar message and sent it back to him then rolled over and willed herself to sleep.


	7. Chapter Six: Games

**Chapter Six: Games**

Nevaeh was cuddled up close with Jasper on the loveseat while Royce was asleep with Naomi on the couch. Nicole snatched up her camera and immediately started taking pictures of the sleeping duo, while Emmett sat awkwardly at their dining room table. He'd never felt so out of place in his life and wished desperately that he could call Rosalie, but it was out of the question at this point with how late it was.

Nicole woke James up and took Naomi with her to bed, wishing them all a good night and to behave.

"So where are we all sleeping?" Jasper asked looking around.

"Well I thought we'd play some games first," Nevaeh said.

"What kind of games?"

"Well come with me and help me get the stuff for it," Nevaeh replied trying to sound alluring, but it came out like a cat in heat causing Emmett to shudder. She was a sweet girl, but she had the complex of an anorexic model and this deeply disturbed him. That left him and Royce alone in the living room.

"Let's go talk," Royce said getting up from the couch and heading out the screen door to the front porch. Emmett's stomach immediately jumped into his throat, instantaneously wondering if he had overheard his conversation with Nicole.

Emmett hesitantly followed Royce outside, watching him as he pulled a cigarette out and lit it.

"What's up?"

Royce eyed him carefully, "You know how we're going to Washington?"

Now Emmett was confused, "Yeah."

"Well, my friend Tanya is interested in you, she wants to hook up while we're there."

Emmett breathed a sigh of relief, hoping it went unnoticed by Royce -which it did. Maybe this was the perfect opportunity for him to bury his feelings for Rosalie. All he had to do was throw himself completely in to this relationship with Tanya and it would give him a reason to cut himself off from Rosalie. He took a hurried final drag from his cigarette, "Yeah give her my number."

Royce nodded putting his cigarette out and followed Emmett inside. It was a few more minutes before Jasper and Nevaeh appeared again, Royce was sitting on the couch and was playing with his phone, but Emmett looked up in time to just catch them adjusting their clothes. He knew exactly what they doing back there just by looking at them, Nevaeh's hair was a mess, their lips were swollen and both of their faces were flushed. Emmett got off the couch quickly and grabbed the bottle of alcohol from Jasper and immediately ran in to the kitchen taking several shots to try and get the disturbing images that were playing through his mind to disappear.

Royce came sauntering into the kitchen and grabbed the bottle from him, motioning for him to follow. Emmett shook his head and followed his friend to the table where Jasper and Nevaeh sat with a deck of cards. Soon after, he was out about thirty dollars and he was fairly drunk at this point, belting out lyrics to some country song he couldn't even remember the name of.

"Alright bud, I think you've had enough tonight," Jasper laughed taking his glass from him, he didn't even bother fighting it.

Emmett stumbled his way outside and threw himself down on a chair that was sitting on the front porch, pulling a cigarette out and putting it to his lips. He tried to light it, but was having great difficulty due to the copious amounts of alcohol that was currently in his system. Jasper followed him outside, lit his own cigarette and then lit Emmett's.

"Thanks man," Emmett said smiling lazily up at his friend. The cold air was making his head spin and the smoke from the cigarette wasn't helping him sober up either. Jasper sat down in the chair next to Emmett, both of them smoking and enjoying the quiet.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Emmett finally giggled out.

"Sure," Jasper snorted trying to hold back his own laughter at the ridiculousness that was the current state his friend was in.

"I'm really drunk."

Jasper out right laughed with Emmett, and agreed with his friend who was clearly having difficulty sitting upright. They finished smoking and Jasper went over to help Emmett to his feet.

"Okay let's get you inside, you're driving tomorrow," Just as he was pulling him up, the effects of the alcohol took over Emmett.

"I think I'm falling for her," Emmett blurted out laughing, causing his friend to drop him back in the chair.

Jasper stared at his drunk friend, whose eyes were wide with shock at his own confession and it was like word vomit he couldn't stop himself.

"Rosalie, I think I'm falling for Rosalie," at this point his mind was screaming at him to stop, but his mouth just wouldn't listen. "She's amazing and I'm falling for her."

Jasper let Emmett's confession sink in and immediately knew what this would do if it got back to Royce. They depended on each other when they were at war to keep each other safe. Their very lives depended on it. He knew if this got back to Royce that it would cause problems between the three of them and trust would be gone, and he wasn't about to let that happen.

"No you don't," Jasper's voice was low and threatening.

Emmett stopped laughing and suddenly sobered up realizing what he said. He quietly got up from the chair, standing eye to eye with Jasper. They glared at each other, both of them clenching and unclenching their fists. The tension between the two of them was so thick and palpable you could almost cut it with a knife. Emmett shoved his way past Jasper, hoping that he fell on his ass. Unfortunately he didn't, he ended up just taking a step backward from the force and glared at him as he went over to the couch and threw himself down on to it.

Jasper followed Emmett to the living room silently, and made his own bed on the loveseat. He watched Emmett scrolling through his media player sticking his earbuds in, before rolling over to face the back of the couch. It was then that he noticed Royce and Nevaeh were missing and the house was dark. Jasper didn't think too much on it, he was too busy occupying himself with glaring at Emmett in the darkness of the living room.

Rosalie woke up the next morning early, because of her parents she was now used to a routine of not being able to sleep on. They wouldn't allow her to even on the weekends, which always seemed to put a damper on her mood. As she was brushing her teeth she remembered she hadn't checked her cell phone, and rushed to her room to grab it. Pulling it out from underneath the pillow, Rosalie looked at the screen only to see the time and absolutely no new notifications. There were no missed phone calls and no unread text messages. Rosalie felt her heart sink, but then decided to check her instant messenger. She turned on the computer then went back to the bathroom to finish brushing her teeth while she waited for it to start up.

When she was done, she went back to her room and started up her instant messenger only to find that here too there were no missed messages. She whole heartedly had at least expected one from Royce, but to not also hear from Jasper or Emmett was strange in itself as well.

Rosalie opened up her internet browsers and typed in her social media page. After a few clicks she found that both Emmett and Royce had been tagged in some photos. There they were with this adorable baby girl who had big ears, no hair, and a toothless grin. She found herself smiling affectionately as she looked at the pictures of Royce asleep on the couch with the baby, but her heart kept when she saw Emmett holding her and grinning from ear to ear. She missed talking to him, it had been a few days. They were probably still asleep right now, which is why she hadn't heard from them so she put her disappointment aside, shut her computer off and made her way downstairs to try to have some breakfast.

Emmett woke up with a stiff neck and a very large, very real hangover. Jasper was already up, bringing in his bags from the car and letting the screen door slam shut, worsening Emmett's hangover.

"Can you not slam the door shut?" Emmett barked out.

"Well hello sleeping beauty!" Nevaeh's voice came from the other side of the room. Her voice seemed to annoy him even more with how terrible he felt.

Jasper dropped his bags to the floor with a loud meticulous thud, glaring at Emmett the whole time. This confused Emmett because he couldn't for the life of him remember what happened last night after about halfway through their poker game. Jasper turned on his heel and went stomping out the front door, making sure the screen door slammed shut.

"What on earth did you do to piss him off?" Royce spoke up from his spot next to Nevaeh.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Emmett said slowly getting up off of the couch.

"We went to bed before you guys," Nevaeh answered him, while Royce just shrugged his shoulders.

Emmett got up off the couch and went outside to go talk to his friend, "What's your deal?"

"Don't have one," Jasper retorted. "You're the one with the problem."

"What are you talking about?"

Jasper stopped moving their things around in the trunk and stood there staring at them before turning his attention to Emmett, "You really don't remember?"

"No!"

Jasper paused briefly then grabbed his other duffle bag out of the trunk, "Last night, you told me that you were falling for Rosalie. You know Rosalie? The girl that Royce is seeing?"

Emmett felt his face pale and his stomach churn as the bile rose to the back of his throat.

"Yeah I thought you would," Jasper tried to shove past him, but Emmett grabbed him by the upper arm and spun him around so he facing him.

"I'm not. I was really drunk last night and I got confused that's all. Besides I got a pretty little thing waiting for me up in Washington, so you can put that thought right out of your head that I'm falling for some pregnant little girl!"

"Hey what are you two fighting about?" Nicole called from the front door.

"Nothing," the two men answered simultaneously.

After she had went back inside, Emmett let go of Jasper and watched him as he started to head back inside.

"Are you not coming with us the rest of the way?"

"No," Jasper grunted out adjust the bags he was carrying. "Nicole and Nevaeh said I could stay here while the two of you run up there, I don't like the cold."

Emmett continued to watch Jasper as he went back inside then held his head in frustration out of the stupidity of his alcoholic mouth. He turned around and slammed the trunk of the car shut, when his cell phone chimed that he had a new text message. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw that it was a message from an unknown number. Opening it up he saw it was from Tanya, informing him that this was her number and she was looking forward to meeting him finally in person. She had also included a picture of herself for his caller id.

He quickly typed out a message back to her that thanked her for texting him and that he was too excited to see her as well. He then noticed that there was another unread message and went to his inbox to see that it was from Rosalie. He hesitated, wondering to himself if he should open it in light of last night's events. While he was contemplating this decision, he felt a pair of eyes watching him and he looked up to find Jasper staring at him from the front porch. Emmett angrily shoved his phone back in to his pocket and stomped back towards the house to see if Royce was ready to go.


	8. Chapter Seven: Surprises

**Chapter Seven: Surprises**

Rosalie stared at her phone, it had been well past a few hurts since she had sent Emmett a text asking where they were since they were supposed to be taking Royce's car she had assumed he would be driving leaving him unavailable to text back. However, she heard nothing back. She had even texted Royce and heard nothing. Things weren't adding up to her and she was starting to grow weary of her relationship with Royce.

She tried to put her mind at ease by busying herself throughout the day. She folded and put away some new baby clothes that her step-mom and step-sister had picked up already. She made her bed, cleaned her bathroom, did all of her chores, did her own laundry, and even got a jump start on her homework. But her mind just kept wandering back to her cell phone and to Royce and Emmett. She had worked herself up and decided she needed to spend some time with her friends so she grabbed her keys and purse and headed out the door.

Rosalie picked up her friends Laura and Kelly and they headed over to their friend Allison's house, where she was always welcome. Allison's mom always made sure to have snacks that she craved on a regular there for her, and greeted her with a warm hug. She constantly told her how pretty Rosalie was and that she was glad she was Allison's friend.

They grabbed the rice krispie treats and made their way up to Allison's room, which just happened to be on the third story of Allison's house. Once there they all plopped down on Allison's bed and turned on the television to movies and dug in to the snack that they had brought up. Rosalie sat quietly munching on her food when the girls decided they were bored with the television and turned it off, only to turn on music and start dancing wildly around and singing the lyrics at the top of their lungs. Rosalie giggled watching them and their antics, they knew she was feeling down today and she appreciated their efforts to cheer her up. Rosalie's cell phone rang and she picked it up without looking at the caller id-she should have looked.

"Hello?"

"You are so dumb if you think I'm ever going to get back together with you," Daniel's voice sneered at her from the other end.

"What?" Rosalie sat there confused as to what brought this on after she hadn't spoken to Daniel since the last time when they fought about him becoming more involved with the pregnancy. She was trying to get him to be more involved and he was fighting not to, claiming his new relationship was what he needed to concentrate on.

"Just to let you know bitch, I'm pregnant and we're getting married. And when we do we're going to get a lawyer and prove you're an unfit mother and take Megan and raise her ourselves. She will never know you."

Rosalie recognized this voice, it was Daniel's girlfriend. The one he had left her for and cheated on her with. Rosalie was confused, she had no idea why they were doing this and what brought this on suddenly. Her voice started to raise octaves, "Now listen here, I haven't done anything wrong-"

"You're a crazy psycho bitch who doesn't deserve to be a mother! We're going to make sure of it!"

Rosalie didn't realize she had left the bed and was now standing at the other end of the room, her knees felt weak and her heart was raising. Tears were threatening to fall down her face.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Rosalie yelled into the phone collapsing on the floor in a heap, her tears taking over. She didn't notice that the music had stopped or that her friends were on the floor with her holding her as her sobs wracked her body. Rosalie heard rustling on the other end of the phone before the line went dead.

She threw her phone across the room and cried her heart out as she felt it shatter. Her friends continued to hug her there in a dog pile on the floor, each one trying to find something comforting to say while asking what had happened. When she finally was able to form the words and replay the conversation to her friends, they all agreed to talk to their parents to try to get her a lawyer for family court if it came down to it and reassured her she was going to be the best of moms. All Rosalie wanted to do was to call Royce and tell him what had happened, so she asked her friends to grab her phone for her while she went to the bathroom to compose herself.

Laura followed her and brushed her hair out of her face while handing her tissues. Allison stood in the bathroom door while a worried expression and Kelly soon joined her with Bethany's phone in her hand.

"I just don't get it, I haven't spoken to him in two weeks! And now that bitch is pregnant and she's not even done with high school!" Rosalie spat out.

"It's cause his penis is small and he doesn't know what to do with it!" Kelly retorted earning a laugh from the rest of the girls. Her comment even caused Rosalie to giggle a little. Allison cringed at the word "penis" simply for the fact that she was a lesbian and didn't like boys at all.

Allison covered her ears dramatically and begged them not to make any more conversation directed towards or about male genitalia. This cause another round of laughter from the girls.

"Are you going to be okay?" Allison asked hugging Rosalie.

"Yeah, I just want to call Royce."

They had been driving most of the day and for Emmett what seemed like half the day, Royce was asleep for most of it. He was wide awake now as Emmett shifted uncomfortably in the driver's seat trying to somehow stretch out his long legs when Royce's phone rang. Royce took out his cell phone and stared at the screen.

"Who is it?"

"It's Rosalie, she normally doesn't call this late," Royce replied frowning at his cell phone before answering it. "What's up babe?"

Emmett could hear her crying from his side of the car and wondered what could be going on, his hands instantly turning clammy and his stomach churned. He should have texted her back early this morning when she had texted him. He shook his head trying to rid himself of these thoughts as Royce continued to listen to Rosalie.

"He said what? And she did what?"

Emmett's interest was fully peaked at this point and he tried his hardest not to let on to Royce that he was really starting to worry about what was going on.

"Babe they can't take Megan from you, she's not even an adult yet herself how is she going to raise two kids when she's still a kid herself and still in high school?"

Emmett listened intently and turned down the music in an attempt to hear her side of the conversation, but it was still too loud in the car.

"I'll kill him," Royce said growing angry. "I don't care if he is her dad, he's the scum of the earth for calling you up like that and talking to you like that! Who does he think he is?"

There was another pause in the conversation and Emmett shot Royce a questioning glance, to which he responded by mouthing to him one word, "Later."

"Uh huh, yeah, I know babe. Listen you're a good mom, and he's a dip shit. Don't let him get to you," Royce said pinching the bridge of his nose and kicking the floor. Something was definitely going down.

"Are you alone? No? You're at your friend's house? Okay are you staying the night there? I think you should," another pause. "Okay, I love you too babe. Have a good night."

Royce snapped his cell phone shut cursing under his breath.

"If I knew who this asshole was, I'd kick his ass while we're in Washington."

"What happened?"

Royce gave him the shorter version of Rosalie and her sperm donor's conversation and as he retold the story, Emmett's hands clenched the steering wheel and he felt his face grow hot with anger.

"Who does he think he is?" Emmett snarled.

"He's an asshole, I don't put much thought into him," Royce replied shrugging. "It's just annoying when I have to pick up the phone and calm her down after he does decide to call her."

Emmett looked at Royce incredulously, "You mean he's done this more than once?"

"Yeah," Royce replied staring at his screen, quickly typing out a text message then closing it. "A couple of weeks ago, she called him telling him she wanted him to be more involved in the pregnancy. Rosalie believes that even though they aren't together, it shouldn't mean that Megan should miss out on having both parents around. She's trying her best to get past the cheating and concentrate on what's best for her kid."

"That's admirable."

"Not really, I think it's stupid. Anyways, he got all pissy with her and told her he doesn't think that's a very good idea either, and then asked her why should he be involved if he's not going to be around anyway? She started arguing back and then he told her to forget it and not call him anymore, he doesn't want anything to do with either one of them."

"You're kidding!"

"Wish I was, he's a real piece of work," Royce adjusted his seat so he was laying back. "Wake me up when we hit Colorado."

Emmett rolled his eyes and turned the music back up to help keep him awake. He shook his head playing Royce's words over in his mind. How easily it was for him to judge someone for playing games with Rosalie, when he was doing the same himself. Granted he wasn't as direct as Rosalie's daughter's father was, but the direction was still the same. The soft music filled the car and he felt the words tug at his heart. He couldn't deny anymore that he had feelings for Rosalie and that he felt the overwhelming urge to protect her and comfort her. He knew he couldn't though, it wasn't his responsibility.

Emmett felt the tug of war going on between his brain and his heart, it was tearing him into pieces. The war raging within him between doing what was right and the loyalty that was deep seeded into him since he joined the army was about to boil over. He glanced over at Royce and upon noticing his friend was indeed asleep, he pulled out his cell phone. He scrolled through his contacts before landing on the number he was looking for and called it.

"Hey, it's me."

Rosalie awoke in the middle of the night, not able to sleep at all. She was confused at first as to where she was, but once her eyes had focused her mind had adjusted as well. She was in the middle of Allison's bed with Allison and Kelly on one side of her and Laura on the other. They had all fallen asleep together and the television was still playing softly in the dark. Rosalie reached over to the nightstand, careful as to not wake up Laura, and grabbed the remote turning it off. Her cell phone quietly buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out flipping it open to find a text message from Royce. He had texted her that he loved her and not to worry about Daniel. She smiled sadly at his sentiment before closing her phone and shoving it back in her pocket. Rosalie looked around at her friends and almost started crying again as she realized how special she was to know this kind of love. She snuggled back down under the covers with her friends and easily fell back asleep.

"Royce," Emmett nudged his friend to wake him up as they crossed the Colorado state border. "Royce wake up!'

Royce opened his eyes groggily and sat up looking around to gain his bearings, "Where are we?"

"You told me to wake you up when we got to Colorado."

"Oh yeah," Royce pulled out his phone and called Alice. "Hey Alice, we just crossed into Colorado, we should be at your place in a couple of hours. Okay see you then beautiful."

Royce snapped the phone shut then reached for the map of Colorado, directing Emmett where to go. Once they reached a certain town that Emmett couldn't remember, Royce pulled out a print out that had directions on it to Alice's house. Soon they were pulling up in her driveway, and Royce was making his way up to her front door with Emmett in tow.

When the front door opened, a short, curvy, beautiful young woman opened the door.

"Hey you two!"

"Hey Alice!" Royce grabbed her in a huge hug and then proceeded to what seemed very close to make out with her right there in the doorway. Emmett looked away, trying not to let it bother him, but not before he heard Royce whisper to her, "There's more where that came from later."

Alice looked at him oddly before turning her attention to Emmett as Royce walked past her into her house, "You must be Emmett."

She smiled warmly at him, taking him in for a hug as he laughed. Emmett had talked to her several times before on the phone while Royce had been busy, but hadn't wanted to hang up with her.

"I am, it's nice to finally meet you."

This energetic little laugh came from the living room behind Alice and she ushered him in to the house and to come sit down. He discovered that the little laugh he heard was from a toddler, a little boy to be exact. He had cute blonde curly hair that held tight to his head and big blue eyes and was grinning from ear to ear as Royce chased him around the living room.

"Sorry to disappoint you beautiful but we're only staying for a little bit, we're trying to make Idaho by tonight," Royce said picking up the little boy and tossing him in the air.

"That's fine because I have nowhere for you to stay," she replied throwing her head back laughing. Emmett found himself laughing too as Alice was easy to be around. She had a comforting presence, much like that of a sibling. They spent the next hour playing with Alice's son and laughing and telling jokes, while Royce kept trying to hit on Alice and she kept brushing him off, which made Emmett laugh even harder. Soon it was time for them to leave, and hugs went all around. When Emmett finally went to hug Alice goodbye, he wrapped her up in a bear hug and kissed her cheek.

"You take care of yourself and that little boy of yours," he said giving her one last squeeze and letting her go.

She smiled up at him warmly, "I will."

Royce honked the horn from behind them and urged Emmett to hurry up and get in the car. Emmett threw Alice one last smile and waved to her as he climbed in.


	9. Chapter Eight: Washington

**Chapter Eight: Washington**

Rosalie hadn't heard from Royce or from Emmett in a day or two since her fight with Daniel. She was starting to get a little worried, so she decided to post to Royce's social media page. She left him a small comment, telling him that she missed him and to have a safe trip and that she loved him.

Rosalie sat there for a few minutes staring at the post before getting up and getting ready for work. Maybe she'd hear from him later, but right now she just wanted to forget the hurtful things Daniel had said to her.

They had gotten to Washington to Royce's home town a few hours ago at Royce's friend Jessica's house where they were supposed to be staying. Tanya was on her way over and Emmett was sitting on the couch nursing a beer while Jessica's roommate Lauren sat uncomfortably close to him attempting to what appeared to be flirting with him. Royce sat on his other side curled up with Jessica while some random television show was playing in the background. Jessica was giggling at something Royce had whispered in her ear. Emmett rolled his eyes, chugging the last of his beer. He jumped when he felt a hand on his thigh and it started to slide up towards his groin.

Lauren laughed, laying her head on his shoulder and batted her eyes up at him. Emmett threw up in his mouth a little, smiling back at her though it probably came out as a grimace and gently removed her hand before getting up from the couch and heading ink the kitchen.

Emmett made a beeline for the refrigerator and pulled out another beer, hesitating and wondering if he should open another one. He'd already had two waiting for Tanya to show up, but it was only so he tolerate Jessica and Lauren. Emmett had no idea what he saw in Jessica, she wasn't all that pretty, her shape didn't really have one, and she gave off the vibe that she was something to be desired. Her friend was no better. Lauren at least had a shape; round. She, like Jessica, also felt that she was something to be desired. She was also much heavier than Nevaeh was, and wore no make-up and her greasy hair was consistently pulled back into a ponytail.

Royce may have been in to that type, where they oozed confidence about themselves, but were obviously very insecure about their looks, but Emmett was not. He liked a girl that was attractive, secure with herself, and smart. Someone he could have a conversation with and not get bored with easily.

' _Someone like Rosalie,'_ he thought to himself shaking his head and opening the beer can, downing half its contents.

The doorbell rang and Emmett had never felt such relief in his life. He all but ran to the front door and threw it open. He was shocked at what he found behind the door. Tanya was a tall girl, curvy yes, but she was tall with a heart shaped face and dark black hair that reached about half way down her back. What he even found more attractive was that she held a case of beer in one hand and shopping bags in her other.

"Hey Emmett," She greeted him with a warm smile.

"Hi Tanya, here let me help you with that," he found himself smiling back at her and reached for the bags and case of beer.

"Awesome, thanks. Yeah there's a lot more in the back of my truck," she pointed over her shoulder to a monster of an old truck.

He brought the bags and beer in the kitchen and set it down on the table as Royce jumped up to help Tanya too, following her out the door. They ended up bringing in five cases of beer, two kegs, and a variety of hard alcohol with chasers.

"Hey Jessica, did you remember to get the cups?" Tanya called from the kitchen.

"Oh I knew I forgot something!"

Tanya looked over at Emmett and rolled her eyes, pretending that her hand was a gun and she just fired a shot at her head. Emmett snickered and continued to help her put the alcohol and beers away.

"Why do we have so much alcohol? I thought only a few of Royce's friends were coming over?"

"More like half of our graduating class and then some, everyone found out Royce is home and are on their way over and we have no party cups," Tanya informed him with an annoyed tone.

"Let's go get some, I'll buy them. It's the least I can do since you bought all the alcohol," Emmett offered.

Tanya threw him a smile, "Okay."

She grabbed her purse and keys, kicking Jessica on the way out telling her they were running to the store to get cups since she forgot. Jessica was so wrapped up in Royce that she just agreed with what she said and went back to kissing Royce's neck. Lauren glared daggers at Tanya's back as she made her way to the front door.

"I have no idea what he sees in her," Tanya said exasperated climbing into her truck. "Don't get me wrong, she is one of my best friends, but if you ever saw Royce's ex-wife you would be saying the same thing. I thought he and Rosalie were seeing each other?"

He waited for her to start the truck and glad he had because once it did start it was with a loud roar, "He is."

Tanya shook her head, putting the truck into reverse, "Great, I hope he gets this out of his system and quick without Rosalie finding out. She's already in this really fragile state with how bad her ex screwed her over, now this? It would send her over the edge and it would be my fault."

Emmett frowned at Tanya's words, "Why would it be your fault?"

Tanya sighed heavily as they drove down the road, "Because I set them up."

Rosalie came home from work completely exhausted again, she had tried to befriend one of the girls at work only for it to back fire on her. She had brought her to the house to hang out and instead money went missing from her parents' room. They immediately blamed her for it, not even giving her the benefit of a doubt. Then when she had come home complaining that her boss was riding her for money missing out of the register and she was being accused of it, her dad had decided to take matters into his own hands. Coming to the rescue of his baby girl, he went into the restaurant one day without her and told her boss what had happened at home. Word got around, her boss watched the tapes and sure enough, her friend had been the one stealing. However, because everyone got along with her friend and she was still new, Rosalie automatically got blamed for it.

Rosalie threw herself down on her bed, letting her tears roll down her face. As soon as she had gotten home she yelled at her dad for getting in the middle of her job and congratulations for making her life miserable if that was what he was aiming for. She had acted like a child, and had said mean things to her dad who had only been trying to help and ensure she wouldn't lose her job. The guilt was eating at her.

Her computer dinged in the otherwise quiet room alerting her she had a new message. Rosalie dragged herself off the bed and across the room, throwing herself down on the computer chair, careful as to not hit her now ever protruding stomach. She moved the mouse around, turning on the screen and opened the new message. It was from a girl she didn't know, her screen name was Alice.

"Hey are you seeing Royce?"

Already Rosalie had a strange feeling of where this conversation was going. She typed out a simple response.

"Yes, why?"

She waited impatiently for a new message from this Alice girl. Frustrated she hadn't received a response yet, she pulled up her social media page to do some snooping. Rosalie discovered that this girl was from Colorado, had a little boy, and was going through a divorce. This must have been the friend that Royce had mentioned they were going to see in Colorado. Her messenger dinged again.

"I just thought you should know when he came here he kissed me."

Rosalie felt her heart sink as she read, and re-read the message. There was no way she fell for another guy who would cheat on her.

"What?" she typed back.

"I wanted you to know that he kissed me. I don't want him and I have no interest in him, I just didn't know the two of you were seeing each other. I've been cheated on before and it sucks. My husband cheated on me and abused me that's why we are getting a divorce."

Rosalie sat there for a minute, not sure of what to do with herself.

"You can call me if you want," Alice offered her phone number.

Rosalie got up and shut her bedroom door quietly before reaching for her cell phone and called Alice.

Emmett was completely enthralled with Tanya, she gave as good as she got and had him laughing the whole time on their trip to the store. He didn't think about Rosalie once the entire time they were together, maybe she was what he needed.

They pulled up to the house laughing about some dirty joke she had just told when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out as they got out of the car and opened his phone. It was another text from Rosalie. He hadn't heard from her since Oklahoma and wondered if she was alright. Opening up the message, he read over it quickly his stomach dropping at his own guilt for not saying anything.

"Emmett, are you okay? You're kind of pale."

Emmett looked up at Tanya shutting his phone, "Yeah I'm fine, excuse me for a minute Tanya I need to go talk to Royce for a second."

Emmett took the bags with all the cups and brought them in the house kicking Royce to get his attention and nodded his head towards the kitchen motioning for him to follow. Royce untangled himself from Jessica telling her he would be right back.

Once they were in the kitchen, Emmett looked towards the living room and told James to follow him and lead him outside to the backyard where they couldn't be heard.

"Rosalie just texted me," He finally said once they were alone.

"Why is she texting you?" Royce asked defensively.

"Cut the shit Royce, she texted me asking about Alice and if it was true that you kissed her when we visited," Emmett growled. "You need to fix this shit, now! Hasn't she been through enough?"

"Alright I will! Why are you getting so defensive over this?"

Emmett stopped, realizing that he was seconds from knocking out his friend. He needed to calm himself down before he snapped and did something he would regret.

"Hey, you guys okay out here?" Tanya peeked her head through the sliding glass door, glancing between the two of them.

"Yeah, we're fine," Emmett replied walking up to her. "What time are people supposed to start getting here?"

"Like any minute," she said checking her watch.

"Cool, let's start the party then!"

Emmett lost count of how many drinks he had consumed, the house was packed with people he didn't know that Tanya, Royce, Jessica, and Lauren were all trying to introduce him to, but he was so far gone he couldn't even remember one person's name. He was beyond drunk at this point, trying to thwart off the unwanted groping of a drunk Lauren, hotter than all hell in this tiny house and attempting to make his way through the crowd to get outside. When he finally made it and stumbled down the two steps into the backyard he found Royce doing keg stands and people cheering him on. Emmett shook his head at his friend's antics and made his way over to the smokers, pulling out a cigarette.

"Hey Emmett, come to join us?" a guy in a blue shirt asked.

"Yeah, uh," Emmett blanked on his name completely while he searched his addled brain for it.

"Josh," the guy in the blue shirt said laughing.

"Yeah, Josh," he laughed sheepishly, lighting his cigarette.

"Having fun?"

"Yeah, kind of. I'm not used to so many people unless it's on deployment and even then there's never any alcohol," he laughed.

"Uh oh, quick get behind us," Josh said grabbing Emmett's arm pulling him towards the rest of the group. They shuffled around him, essentially hiding him from view.

"Has anyone seen Emmett?" came Lauren's shrill and slurred voice.

"Nope."

"Can you tell that sexy beast that I'm looking for him?"

"Back off Lacey!" Tanya's voice popped up. "He's not interested in you, go find some desperate man who is you drunk whore!"

Lauren let out a shriek before stomping back towards the house and finally inside it.

"You guys can uncover Emmett now."

Everyone shuffled around to expose him to Tanya. He looked at her with a wicked grin taking a drag from his cigarette, "How'd you find me?"

Tanya shrugged her shoulders, reaching for his hand, "They've hidden me a few times before."

He allowed her to lead him towards the corner of the house and around the side where it was completely dark. Once they were around the corner and they made sure they hadn't been followed, Tanya pushed him against the side of the house and started attacking his mouth with her hers. Emmett grinned against her lips as she grabbed him by his neck and pulled him closer to her. This was what he needed to forget Rosalie.


	10. Chapter Nine: Lies

**Chapter Nine: Lies**

Rosalie had spent a good two hours on the phone with Alice getting to know each other. They immediately became friends and promised to call each other soon. Royce had called her a little later and had somehow managed to turn things around on her. He had told her not to post comments that indicated they were seeing each other because he and his wife were not yet divorced. For this reason, if the army found out they were seeing each other, he could get in to trouble. She immediately forgot the fact that he had kissed another girl and had spent the next twenty minutes apologizing to him.

Rosalie sat there confused as hell, she hadn't heard back from Emmett, but obviously he had said something to Royce or Royce wouldn't have called. When she tried to confront Royce about all of it, he acted like it was nothing and that it was just a peck on the lips as a friendly hello. Rosalie didn't see that way, but she didn't want the headache that came with fighting with him so she let it go. Her messenger alerted her to a new message and she opened it seeing it was a message from Alice.

"Did you talk to Royce?"

Rosalie sighed and messaged her back telling her of their conversation. The next thing she knew, her phone was ringing and it was Alice.

"He's so full of it, it was not a friendly kiss," Alice snorted.

"I know that and you know that, but he's not going to admit to it. Hey have you heard from Emmett at all?"

"You know, I haven't, which is odd because we talk daily," Alice's voice sounded a little worried.

"I don't know what's going on with him, we used to talk every day too and then all of a sudden it just stopped," Rosalie recalled, chewing on her bottom lip. This was a nervous habit she had kept from childhood from when her mom had abused her or when she used to listen to her parents fight.

"I do have some interesting news though, you know how they stopped in Oklahoma?"

"Yeah."

"Well apparently Royce slept in the same bed as her," Alice said breathlessly. "I talked to the girl and I'll add her on our instant messenger conversation."

"Okay I'll jump back on, talk to you on there!"

"Okay, bye!"

Rosalie set her phone down on her desk and watched as a new girl was added to hers and Alice's conversation. Her name read, "Nevaeh". This was the girl that Royce said he was stopping at in Oklahoma to introduce Jasper to.

"Hi girls!" the new girl typed.

"Hi," Rosalie typed back unsure of what to say.

"Tell Rosalie what you told me," Alice sent.

"Okay, well Royce, Emmett, and Jasper came and visited me here at my mom's house. All three of them were all over me, but mostly it was Royce and Jasper. Jasper and I had sex and Royce and I slept in the same bed together. Didn't really do anything, but I could tell Emmett was really in to me, too. I really like Jasper though."

Rosalie sat there staring incredulously at the screen, reading and re-reading what Nevaeh had sent to them. Her phone rang and it was Alice again, "Can you believe what she's saying?"

Rosalie snorted, "I don't know, I don't even know what Nevaeh looks like!"

"Oh, Royce is friends with her on social media, go look!"

Rosalie pulled up Nevaeh's social media page and immediately clicked on her profile picture to get a better look. Rosalie honestly couldn't believe her eyes, she had never had a mean thing to say about anybody, especially before she got a chance to know them, but what came out of her mouth next shocked her, "Bullshit, that lying cow!"

Rosalie slapped a hand over her mouth while Alice cackled on the other side of the phone, "My thoughts exactly."

"Maybe I can see Royce somewhat doing something with her, considering what his wife looks like, but only if he was really drunk and desperate!"

This opinion only served to make Alice laugh even harder, "That's exactly how I feel about Jasper. She doesn't know that Jasper and I are actually seeing each other."

"What about Emmett?" she asked hesitantly and quietly.

Alice had stopped laughing at this point and was only giggling slightly, "What about Emmett?"

Rosalie felt her face heat up, "Do you think Emmett would have done anything with her?"

Alice laughed, "No, Emmett has way better sense than that."

Rosalie tried not to sigh with relief, though there was a nagging feeling at the pit of her stomach, "Okay, well I have to get ready for work love, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay, sounds good bye girl."

Emmett woke up the next morning with a raging hang over. He had passed out on the couch and the last thing he remembered was making out with Tanya on the side of the house. Someone had covered him up with a blanket and he vaguely remembered Royce laid out on the kitchen floor with his friends around him laughing. He slowly sat up and looked around the room to find beer bottles, cups, and trash everywhere. They were going to have a rough time cleaning all over this up.

Emmett groaned swinging his feet around to the floor, his head pounding and the world was spinning. Once he was able to gain his bearings, he stood up and started searching around to see who had managed to stay around. He noticed there was a tooth sitting on the kitchen table and began to wonder how crazy things had gotten last night. His phone chirped from his pocket alerting him to a new text message, the sound was so offensive in his state that he cringed inwardly and put it on vibrate.

Emmett started checking bedrooms and found Jessica asleep with Royce, both topless. He almost slammed the door shut in his haste to rid himself of the view and nearly lost his stomach contents at the sight. Further stumbling through the house, he found Josh asleep in the bathroom sprawled out and Lauren was passed out on top of her bed. Grabbing a beer from the fridge in the hopes of ridding his hangover, Emmett made his way outside where a few people had ended up camping out in a couple of the tents they had set up with the purpose of discouraging people from driving while drunk. He took a long drink of his beer, finishing half the can and then starting searching through his pockets for his cigarettes. Once he had found them and had pulled one put, he plopped himself down in a chair to light it.

Taking a long drag, Emmett tried for the life of him to remember what had happened last night and hoped he hadn't embarrassed himself in front of Tanya. While he was trying to grasp for some sort of memory of the party, his phone vibrated in his pocket again. Sighing, he pulled it out and saw two unread text messages. One was from Tanya and the other was from Alice.

Emmett opened the one from Tanya and read, "Hey, hope your night was just as good as mine. I had a wonderful time with you and can't wait to see you later tonight."

He smiled and sent her a reply, "I had a really good time with you too, looking forward to seeing you again."

Then he opened the one from Alice and read it, his good mood disappearing and the headache from his hangover returned.

When Rosalie woke up that morning she was not expecting to see all the notifications that alerted her to new pictures being posted on social media of Royce, Tanya, and Emmett. Clicking through the photos from the party they had the previous evening, Rosalie's heart sank further and further into her stomach. Some of them weren't so bad, Royce doing keg stands, Royce asleep on the kitchen floor, Tanya and her friend Jessica, Tanya and Royce holding up beers together, Royce and Emmett drinking together, and then it got weirder. Royce was missing a front tooth, Jessica was trying to throw the camera a kiss while clearly holding up a very drunk Royce, Tanya cuddled up next to Emmett, Jessica cuddled with Royce on the couch resting her heard on his chest, Jessica kissing Royce's cheek while they were cuddled up on the couch, and then Jessica and some other girl cuddled up with Emmett kissing him on either cheek. What was even more disturbing, is that Rosalie found herself to be more jealous over the pictures of Emmett and Tanya than the ones of Royce and Jessica and she was dating Royce!

Rosalie didn't know what to do, she just sat there staring at the offensive pictures and trying to decide if being with Royce was worth this kind of torture. Then Rosalie's phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hello wife, I take it by your tone you've seen the photos?" came Alice's voice on the other end.

"Yeah, can I tell you something? You can't tell anybody because I'm really confused right now."

"Sure what's going on?"

Rosalie chewed on her bottom lip, hesitating for a moment wondering if telling Alice was the right decision to make right now, "Don't get me wrong I love Royce and I know that's really screwed up with how he's been behaving lately, but I'm not there so I can't really say for sure what's going through his head or what actually happened-"

"Honey, you're rambling. Breathe."

Rosalie took a deep breath, "I'm more jealous of other girls hanging off of Emmett than I'm more upset of other girls hanging off of my boyfriend!"

Then Rosalie started to cry.

"Why are you crying? Royce is an asshole, I honestly don't see why you're with him. As far as Emmett goes, have you told him how you've felt?"

Rosalie started crying even harder, "I can't! I'm seeing someone else, and not just anybody else, but his best friend! How awful is that?"

"It's not that bad, Rose. You have feelings for Emmett, and no one can blame you. He's hot and he's a total sweetheart. But listen, I have to get going and go to a doctor's appointment. I'll call you later."

They said their goodbyes and Rosalie looked at her computer one more time before wiping her eyes and getting ready for work.

Emmett called Alice almost immediately after reading her text message.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Hello to you too, stranger. Having fun in Washington?" Alice answered with a tone that screamed sarcasm.

"Alice, I am hung over as all hell and don't really have time for games, so cut the crap and tell me what your text was about?"

There was a rustling on the other end and he heard Alice saying something to her son before she returned to the phone, "What my text message was about is about all the pictures that were posted online from your guys' little party last night."

Emmett felt his face pale, "What pictures?"

"There are a ton of pictures that Jessica and Royce posted from the party last night. A bunch of them are of Jessica and Royce cuddling on the couch and of her kissing him that look too much like they're a couple or at least screwing around."

Emmett let out a low curse, he knew Rosalie had already seen them if Alice was now getting a hold of him, "Is there more?"

"Yup."

Emmett cursed again, "What else is there?"

Alice went on to tell him of the photos that were of him, Jessica, Tanya, and Lauren. Then informed him of all the things Nevaeh was saying about how he and Royce supposedly acted towards her to Rosalie and with the photos, the situation for him and Royce were not looking too good.

"She's a liar! I hope Rosalie doesn't really believe that Royce or I would do anything! Wait, why am I defending what I've been doing? I'm not seeing Rosalie at all and according to Royce, if he can't work things out with the divorce, he's going to ask Rosalie to marry him and that she's in love with him!"

Alice laughed at him, "You really are that dense aren't you?"

"What do you mean?" he asked incredulously.

Alice sighed, "She's with Royce yes, but she has feelings for you stupid. The only down side is that Royce has her completely wrapped around his finger. He turns everything he does around on her to the point where she actually believes she's the one messing up in their relationship. I'm scared for her Emmett, I'm scared that he's beat her down so much she can't leave him."


	11. Chapter Ten: Confusion

**Author's Note:**

 **Thank you all who are continuously reading. I know I haven't posted a note in a few chapters so here one is. I'm overwhelmed by the number of views my story is getting. Writing this story, my story, our story, is very therapeutic. I've never told anyone the events that happened for various reasons, and being able to write about it and write about him reminds me of why I fell in love with him in the first place and why I should have stayed far away from people like Royce in this story. It gets worse, so much more worse and I've left a good portion out because it doesn't really pertain and I've forgotten most of our conversations. I just remember tidbits of here and there because it wasn't so traumatic. I'm also creating a playlist that goes with this so just hold on a little while longer and I'll post it in the next few chapters. Please review, I love knowing if you're enjoying it, what your thoughts are.**

 **~Brandtishot**

 **Chapter Ten: Confusion**

Rosalie was in a fog at work, she really didn't know how to feel at this point. She was so confused as to where her heart lay, but obviously Emmett was seeing her best friend Tanya, so that avenue was closed as it should be. She needed to concentrate on working through her issues with Royce and make that relationship work, which is what she should be doing anyway since they were together.

When she got home, her cell phone rang and she answered it without even looking at the caller id, "Hello?"

"Hey," it was Emmett.

"Hi," she responded nervously. "Where's Royce?"

"He's out meeting up with Maria to finish signing the divorce papers. I just thought I'd call and see how you were doing."

Rosalie sat down on her bed slowly, letting her purse fall to the floor. She really didn't know how to answer him.

"I'm okay, I guess."

"Are you sure? I saw the pictures they posted from our party last night, and I know they don't look good. I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry."

Rosalie laughed nervously, "Why are you sorry? You're not my boyfriend."

Rosalie cringed at her last statement, she knew that hit a little below the belt. She listened to Emmett sigh with what sounded like defeat.

"I know I'm not, but it can't be easy seeing your boyfriend with other girls and them kissing him. So on behalf of my idiot friend, I'm sorry you had to see that."

"It's okay Emmett, really. I know he has a ton of close friends, so it doesn't really bother me. At the end of the night he's with me, you know? I'm the one he loves."

Emmett was quiet on the other end, so quiet that Rosalie heard Tanya's voice on his end calling his name and telling him to get his sexy ass inside.

"I've got to go," she said hurriedly trying to hold back her tears, her voice cracking. "Goodbye."

She hung up the phone before he could even respond. She was so confused, she loved Royce, but these developing feelings for Emmett were starting to overwhelm her.

Rosalie decided the best thing to do was not talk to him for a while, that maybe it would be best if she just separated herself from him and allow herself to concentrated on her relationship with Royce. She busied herself with her homework assignments before she had to go to work later that afternoon, throwing herself into a world of web design and programming.

When she was almost complete with her assignments, her cell phone rang beside her. Rosalie jumped as the noise broke the complete silence that had surrounded her, other than the clicking of her typing on the keyboard. She stared at the phone hesitantly, wondering momentarily if she should answer it. Rosalie slowly picked her cell phone up, looking at the caller id and saw that it was Royce calling her.

"Hey baby," she answered.

"Hey gorgeous, how was your day?"

"Long, just trying to finish up my homework for school right now."

"Do you have a minute to talk?"

"Yeah," she got up from her desk and laid down on her bed trying to get comfortable. "How was your trip to see Maria? Did she sign the papers?" Rosalie ran a hand absently over her swollen belly, feeling Megan kick and squirm around she let out a low moan.

"What's wrong babe?" Royce asked, his voice full of concern.

"Nothing, Megan is just kicking me. I think she's going to be a soccer player at the very least."

Royce laughed, "Is she kicking your butt?"

Rosalie grunted as she rolled over on to her side, trying to get a little more comfortable, "More like my ribs, I think she bruised them."

Royce laughed again, "Are you okay?"

Rosalie smiled, "Yeah, just sore and uncomfortable."

"I wish I were there instead of dealing with all of this. I wish I could feel her kick and go with you to all of the doctor's appointments. I can't wait for this divorce to be finalized and we can finally get married and be together."

"You want to get married?"

"Of course I do babe, I love you. I want to spend my life with you, you have no idea how beautiful and amazing you are. Thank you for being so patient through all of this, I know I probably haven't been the best, but I really do love you."

"I love you too," Rosalie wiped a tear that escaped her eye. "So your visit with Maria, how'd it go?"

Royce sighed heavily on the other end, "Well we went out to lunch and talked for a really long time. She told me she's seeing someone else now and I found out from a few friends that supposedly she's pregnant with his kid. So when I tried to talk to her about the divorce papers being signed, she started crying and telling me she wasn't sure she wanted it anymore. I swear sometimes I could just kill her."

"Are you kidding me?" Rosalie asked angrily.

"That's what I said, I told her I was already moving on and with someone else and that I was happy."

"You didn't tell her it was me did you?"

"No," Royce replied quickly. "So we ended up talking some more and I told her we'll meet again tomorrow, but I doubt it. She's dragging this out hoping she'll get some money out of it from when I deploy in a few months."

"I wish she would just sign the papers already. The fact that she's already with someone else and saying she's not sure anymore is ridiculous. I'm sorry this is happening babe."

"No I'm sorry, I want to tell everyone about you already and I can't. I don't like the fact that I have to hide you. I want you in Texas with me already, our own place, and married."

"I want that too," Rosalie said wistfully. There was quiet on the other end of the phone and then she heard Jessica's voice in the background calling him.

"Listen babe, I have to go. I'll call you later tonight, okay?" Royce promised.

"I have to work tonight, can I call you when I get off?"

"Yeah, that'd work. I love you," Royce whispered.

"I love you too."

They quickly said their goodbyes and hung up. Rosalie laid there for a moment in her bed, replaying their conversation in her head. She missed him something fierce, and wished that Maria would sign the divorce papers and she and Royce could start their new life together.

It was almost eleven her time when Rosalie got home from work. Her feet ached and her back was sore, her boss finally gave her more hours now that she had given him the doctor's note saying she was just fine to work, but could not lift anything over thirty pounds. She took her hair out of the pony tail she had to keep it up in for work, and with some degree of difficulty she took her shoes off. After she had changed out of her work clothes and into her pajamas and had brushed her teeth she sat down at her computer to check her emails and call Royce.

Dialing his number, she noticed a few missed instant messenger messages from Alice and a couple from Nevaeh. Alice was checking up on her and to see if she had heard from Emmett at all since she hadn't and was starting to worry. Nevaeh was bragging about how well her daughter was getting along with Jasper and wanted to know if she had heard from Royce. She put off messaging them back when Royce picked up on the third ring.

"Hey, there's my gorgeous lady. How was work?"

"It was long and hot, how was your day?" she asked gnawing on her bottom lip.

"It's been quiet, spent most of the day with Emmett, Tanya, and Jessica just watching movies. We're all recovering from the party."

"Yeah," she answered absent mindedly. "Hey there's something I wanted to ask you about."

"Ask away," Royce said chuckling.

"I was looking through some of these pictures and noticed your front tooth is missing in some of the later ones."

"Yeah, I knocked it out last night doing a keg stand. I lost my balance and fell hitting the rim of the keg," Royce replied sheepishly.

"How in the world?"

"Well I was on my third keg stand and everyone was getting pretty drunk and either couldn't or wouldn't hold me up. So I thought I could do it myself."

"Well that was smart," Rosalie snickered.

"Wasn't it?" Royce laughed.

"Are you going to get it fixed?"

"I'm going to when I get back to Texas," there was a rustling on the other end.

"What are you doing?"

"Just switching sides so I can light a cigarette."

Rosalie heard the click of his lighter and then him exhale, "When are you going back to Texas?"

"In a couple of more days," he exhaled again. "I have to meet up with Maria again tomorrow, babe. Hopefully she signs the divorce papers this time."

"Hopefully," Rosalie agreed.

"I love you and miss you," he whispered.

"I love and miss you too, why are you whispering?"

Royce chuckled, "Because I'm outside."

"You're a strange man," Rosalie snorted in amusement.

"Yeah, but I'm your strange man," Royce retorted exhaling again.

"Alright babe, I'm really tired. I have to get up early for school in the morning, I love you."

"I love you too, go get some sleep. You and the baby need it."

They said their goodbyes and Rosalie hung up her phone. She smiled softly to herself, running a hand over her stomach to which Megan responded by kicking her.

"Goodnight little one."

Emmett sat on the couch with his arm around Tanya as she snuggled in closer into his side, somehow molding against him. He cocked his head to the side and leaned down kissing her. Tanya reached a hand up to his face and slid it to the back of his head, pulling him closer and deepening their kiss.

"Hey you two, get a room!" Royce laughed from the sliding glass door.

They broke apart smiling at one another before Tanya threw a pillow at James.

"I'm going to go use the restroom," Emmett said getting up from the couch. He leaned down and gave Tanya a quick kiss, "Be right back."

"Hurry," she said grinning up at him. 

Emmett made his way back to the restroom and Jessica followed closely behind, brushing against him as she made her way to her room. Emmett could have sworn her hand grazed his ass as she walked by, but he shrugged it off and went in the restroom. While he was sitting there on the toilet taking care of business, Emmett pulled out his phone and started texting Alice to see how she was doing. After he was in there a while, he told Alice goodnight and that he had to get back to Tanya and Royce, he'd been gone long enough.

When he exited the bathroom and made his way to the living room, he noticed that Kelly was back and her clothes looked rumpled and askew. Not only that, but her hair was a little messy as well. He eyed Royce suspiciously, who just shrugged his shoulders and went back to watching the movie. Emmett sat down next to Tanya and then even further noticed that her mood had changed. When he put his arm around her she shrugged it off and moved a little further away from him, and when he tried to kiss her, she turned her head away claiming she wanted to watch the movie.

When the movie was over, he walked her out to her truck.

"You know you don't have to walk me out, I can find my own truck," she all but snarled at him.

"Did I do something wrong?" Emmett asked startled at the change on her tone.

"No, I'm just tired," Tanya snapped at him. She climbed in to her truck without so much as a goodbye and left him standing there confused in the middle of the driveway.

Emmett watched her truck lights disappear down the road, going over their evening in his head trying to recall a moment where he might have offended her in some way, but couldn't think of one. Something must have happened while he had been using the restroom, maybe it was the amount of time he had spent in there that had offended her. Emmett turned around and headed in to the house.

Once inside he went to the fridge and grabbed himself another beer then proceeded to throw himself down on the couch and cracked it open, taking a long swig. Royce glanced over at him with a raised eyebrow, which had it been any other time Emmett would have found this hilarious with his one missing tooth. However, the way things had just perspired between him and Tanya he didn't find this amusing at all.

"What happened?"

Emmett shrugged, "No idea."

When Emmett had finished his beer, he grabbed another one and headed outside to smoke and text Tanya.

"I hope you made it home safe, I know you were upset about something. I wish you would tell me what it is so I can fix it, I really like and care about you. Have a good night."

Emmett sent the message and snapped his phone shut, shoving it deep in his pocket. He didn't expect a text back from her, but he hoped he got one before they left. He chugged his beer before throwing the can as hard as he could at the fence, letting his anger take over for a moment. He was angry, things were going right for a change. He was happy for a split second and he should have known better than to let his guard down for even a split second. He tried to gain control again, his chest heaved as he breathed in and out deep, long breathes to calm himself.

"Is everything okay?" Jessica called from the door.

"Everything's fine," he replied dejectedly before making his way back inside.

Once he was sitting down on the couch again, he pulled his phone out to see if he had missed a call or text from Tanya. His screen just showed the time instead, no missed calls and no missed text messages leaving him to wonder just what it was that happened to suddenly change the way she felt towards him.


	12. Chapter Eleven: Down the Rabbit Hole

**Chapter Eleven: Down the Rabbit Hole**

Time had started to pass quickly over the next few days for Rosalie as school started to pick up as well as work since the holidays were approaching quickly. She talked to Royce a few more times and fell even more in love with him with each phone call. He constantly told her how wonderful she was and filled their conversations with promises of a bright future together, if only Maria would sign the divorce papers.

That was the current obstacle happening in their relationship, the one large hurdle that they had to overcome other than her moving to Texas with a new born. Royce and Emmett were currently driving to Oklahoma to pick up Jasper from Nevaeh's house on the way back to Fort Hood. Royce had seen Maria one more time to try to convince her to sign the divorce papers, but she still refused to budge. Royce continued to tell her how much he truly hated his wife, and how easier things would be if she were did. He often bragged about the different ways he could kill her and get away with it, to which Rosalie would chastise him and tell him to stop talking like that and he would respond with that he was only joking and he would never do such a thing.

Rosalie was worried that Maria would drag this divorce out to the bitter end, but Royce had assured her that if he got proof that she had cheated on him while they were married then the divorce would go a lot quicker and they could go on with everything he had promised her. She still hadn't heard from Emmett, but it seemed to bother her less and less. From what she had heard he was seeing Tanya now, but she hadn't heard from her either and it didn't seem to bother her that much.

Her phone rang, breaking the silence in her room as she was falling asleep trying to take a nap before work. Picking it up she glanced at the caller id and saw it was Royce.

"Hey babe," she answered with a yawn.

"Hey sweetheart, did I wake you up?"

"No, I was just about to go to asleep. I was going to take a nap before work."

"Do you want me to let you go?"

"No, it's fine," she said grunting as she tried to roll over.

"I just wanted to call and let you know we're almost to Colorado."

"Okay," Rosalie yawned again causing Royce to laugh. "Don't laugh at me."

"I'm not, I'm laughing at how adorable you are."

"Uh huh."

"Go get some sleep baby, I'll call you tomorrow."

They said their "I love you"s and promised of a future phone call, perhaps when she got off of work later and hung up. Soon Rosalie's eyes grew heavy and she succumbed to sleep.

Royce hung up the phone and quickly called Alice to let her know they were entering Colorado, getting directions to a restaurant she and her friend were going to meet up at.

"Okay, see you then, bye."

Emmett glanced at Royce out of the corner of his eye, then looked back at the road. They had both front windows rolled down slightly as they smoked, blasting music to stay awake. They were trying to drive straight through to Oklahoma since they had such a late start. Emmett still hadn't heard back from Tanya and had hoped she would have at least stopped by to say goodbye to him before they left.

"We're going to meet Alice and her friend at Waffle House," Royce said absently, taking a drag from his cigarette before flicking it out the window.

Emmett nodded and flicked his own cigarette out the window, "Sounds like a plan, I could use a cup of coffee."

They continued to drive for a couple of more hours, a silence settling between the two of them with only the radio playing softly. Emmett rubbed his eyes a few times to try and focus them, he'd been driving straight through since they had left Washington and he was starting to feel it. Emmett glanced at the clock as they neared the restaurant and saw that it was nearing two in the morning. No wonder he was so tired!

They pulled up to the restaurant thankfully ten minutes later and saw Alice and her friend waiting for them at the front door. Emmett parked the car and got out, stretching his long limbs while Royce went ahead without him and hugged Alice and met her friend not even bothering to wait for him. Emmett sluggishly shut the car door and locked it then walked over to Royce and the girls. Alice saw him approaching and threw him a big smile followed by a bone crushing hug, which he returned.

"Let's get inside out of this cold," her friend suggested.

"Agreed," Alice said dragging him behind her inti the restaurant. Once they were inside, they chose to sit at a booth where Alice slid in on one side followed by Royce, to which Emmett rolled his eyes, and then Alice's friend slid in on the other side followed by Emmett. After exchanging introductions between Emmett and Alice's friend, Ashley, they looked at the menu to decide what to order.

While Emmett looked over the menu, Alice, Royce, and Ashley talked candidly as Royce went over their stay in Washington and the antics they got into at the party. Ashley was hanging on to every word Royce was saying, while interjecting here and there trying to get Emmett involved in the conversation batting her eyelashes at him every time he looked over at her. He felt someone kick his leg and looked up from his menu to see Alice staring at him with a slight frown on her face.

"You okay?" she mouthed while Royce continued to talk oblivious to their exchange.

Emmett gave a small grimace, nodding slowly. Alice noticed this and cocked her head to the side as if to ask him what was wrong, to which he mouthed the word "later" and she nodded. The waitress finally showed up interrupting Royce's retelling of how he lost his front tooth and took their order. Emmett made sure to order coffee, seeing as he didn't think Royce would be driving any time soon even though it was his car and she took their menus, taking with her Emmett's buffer to stay out of the conversation.

"Did you know Emmett and Tanya were going to hook up until he and Kelly hooked up?" Royce said grinning at Emmett, gauging him for a reaction. Emmett's head snapped up from his coffee as he glared at Royce.

"I did what?"

Royce laughed at Emmett's reaction, "That's what Jessica was going around saying, she even told Tanya that."

"We didn't hook up!" Emmett protested. "I was never even the same room alone with her!"

"Maybe you should talk to Tanya then, because she believes Jessica."

Alice glared at Royce slapping his arm. Royce turned a shocked expression on her, "What?"

"You knew the whole time why she wasn't calling him back and didn't say anything?"

Royce shrugged, "I thought he did that's why I didn't say anything."

Emmett glared at his coffee, the truth finally being out in the open. He didn't understand why Jessica would say something like that, especially to Tanya who was supposed to be her best friend. That was a really low blow and started to explain the other night when Tanya's mood suddenly changed and how Jessica looked. She was trying to make her story convincing, even though he really didn't see the need for it since he wasn't even remotely attracted to Jessica and he had spent most of his time curled up and making out with Tanya.

An awkward silence had settled over the table and when the waitress brought them their food, they ate the same way. It was stifling as Emmett sat there stewing over Royce's revelation. It was Ashley, who about halfway through the meal decided to break the silence.

"So are you single then?"

Emmett almost spit out his food across the table.

"Oh dear God," Alice said exasperatedly. "Keep it in your pants woman!"

This cause both Royce and Emmett to erupt in laughter, while Ashley all but shrank into the booth with a bright blush spreading across her face and Alice continued to shove hash browns in her mouth with a look of indifference. This outburst allowed the rest of them to eat their meal happily, laughing and joking around avoiding the topic of Emmett's problems and anything to do with Washington. When they had finished their food and the waitress had brought them their check, Royce glanced at his watch.

"Well ladies, we really need to be going."

Emmett stood out of the booth, taking out his wallet and threw money down on the table to pay for the bill while Alice, Royce, and Ashley got up as well.

"You really have to go?" Ashley all but whined.

"Yeah," Royce replied as they gathered their things and put on their coats. "We have to get to Oklahoma and pick up our friend Jasper, and then we have to make it back to Texas by tonight. Our leave is up."

Ashley hung on to Royce as they walked ahead out in to the parking lot, while Alice stayed behind to talk to Emmett. They watched as Royce continued to flirt shamelessly with Ashley as they followed them outside into the cold air, which instantly woke Emmett back up.

"You know, he's my friend and all, but he's really screwed up," Alice said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"What do you mean?" Emmett asked clearing his throat.

Alice sighed, shoving her hands in her pockets to keep them warm against the cold morning, "You know how he's seeing Rosalie?"

"Yeah, I know," he answered slowly, trying to ignore the tug at his heart.

"He's been promising her that they're going to get married before you guys deploy, if the divorce goes through that is," Alice said low enough so that Royce wouldn't overhear their conversation. "That they're going to move in together soon and be one big happy family and that he wants her to claim that he's Megan's dad so he can be there when she's born."

Emmett shook his head, watching Royce lean down and whisper something in to Jessica's ear making her blush and lean in to his side. Alice noticed it too, shaking her head.

"I don't know what to tell her when I see shit like this," Emmett said carefully. "I feel guilty every time she calls."

Alice stared at him with a thoughtful expression on her face, "Is that why you haven't been talking to her?"

"Yeah, because I know she won't believe me," Emmett replied shaking his head.

"She won't believe any of us," Alice said sadly. "He just lies his way out of it, promises her a bunch of things and she believes him. Or he turns it around on her and makes her think she's the one in the wrong."

Emmett opened his mouth to reply, but didn't get a chance to as Royce yelled at him it was time to go. Alice walked with him over to the car and gave Royce a hug goodbye, asking that they call when they made it safely to Oklahoma. Royce climbed in the car on the passenger side to get out of the cold as Alice turned on Emmett. She gave him a big hug, squeezing him tightly.

"Watch out for her please," Emmett whispered in her ear.

Alice nodded, knowing who he meant and watched as he climbed in the car and started it. She waved one last time to them alongside Ashley, who blew them kisses. He pulled out of the restaurant parking lot, and tried to leave behind him the feeling of dread that was overcoming him as they headed down the freeway towards Oklahoma.


	13. Chapter Twelve: Brainwashed

**Chapter Twelve: Brainwashed**

The drive to Oklahoma was a long one and Emmett struggled to stay awake, stopping a few times to pick up some energy drinks and to fill the car with gas. Royce selfishly had slept most of the drive, making it even more difficult for Emmett to drive because he had no one to talk to and was left completely alone with his thoughts. He worried about Rosalie, wondered what he was going to say to Tanya, wondered if Tanya was even going to answer his phone calls, and then finally wondered if Royce was telling the truth to Rosalie and if that's what he really wanted.

All Emmett knew of Royce's wife Maria was that she cheated on Royce a lot, and usually it was while he was deployed. That and she tended to spend a lot of their money, leaving them to struggle. He recalled that Royce had once told them she caused a miscarriage by taking a bunch of Plan B pills when she found out she was pregnant when they had been trying to have a baby, effectively making it near impossible for them to have kids.

Emmett never understood why people cheated, and worst of all he hated wives who cheated on their military spouse while they were deployed. He categorized these women near the top of his list of women he thought very lowly of.

What he knew of Rosalie, she was a very loyal type of person and very loving. It was probably a breath of fresh air for someone who was cheated on, but he didn't think it was right for Royce to flirt so shamelessly with other women if he was promising Rosalie a future together. He took out a cigarette as they neared the Oklahoma border and opened his window, watching the sun rise and the sky change colors. The sudden loud noise of the wind whipping through the car woke Royce up, who proceeded to stretch in his seat and sit up, looking around at their surrounding landscape.

"Hey, how's the drive been?"

Emmett snorted, "Long, but at least your snoring kept me awake."

"I don't snore," Royce feigned being offended.

"Jack hammers have nothing on you," Emmett retorted laughing.

"How far are we from Nevaeh's?"

"About another hour," Emmett took a drag of his cigarette, glancing at the clock.

"Do you want me to drive?" Royce offered yawning.

"No, I've been driving this far, an hour isn't going to hurt. You just lay back and enjoy the ride princess," Emmett joked.

True to his word, an hour later they pulled up in front of Nevaeh's house where Liam was waiting with his bags and smoking a cigarette on the front porch. Emmett got out and helped Jasper get his belongings into the trunk of the car and climbed into the back seat, stretching out as much as the space would allow his frame to. Emmett promptly fell fast asleep and remained that way for a majority of the trip.

Rosalie was exhausted that night, almost not bothering to change out of her work clothes before she climbed in to bed. She had started a new job at a clothing store at the nearby mall, where she pulled inventory for floor display, processed damaged items, and took inventory so they could order more items if needed. She loved her new job because she really didn't have to deal with customers and the people she worked with were a lot more accepting and nice towards her, a far cry from how she was treated at her last job.

As she laid in bed half asleep she almost didn't hear her phone ring, thinking it was a dream of some sort until she realized that her phone was actually ringing.

"Hello?" she answered it groggily.

"Hey sweetheart," came Royce's silky voice from the other end.

"Hey baby," Rosalie yawned trying to wake herself up so she could have a coherent conversation with him. "Where are you guys?"

"We just got back to base, I just wanted to see how your new job was going."

Rosalie thought it was sweet that he paid attention to the small details that she had told him about. She had only told him about the new job a couple of days ago, and here he was remembering that she had started it.

"I really like it, keeps me busy, but the people there are a hell of a lot nicer to me."

"That's good," Rosalie heard the click of his lighter and could almost imagine him lighting his cigarette.

"How did the drive go?"

"It was really long, but Emmett did most of the driving," he answered her exhaling. After he told her of some of the things they had seen on their drive, she heard him go back into his room and then country music started playing in the background.

"I miss you," she said after a lull in their conversation.

"I miss you, too. I can't wait to see you. I'm going to try to get some more leave before we deploy so I can come see you."

"Sounds like a good plan," she said smiling.

"How's Megan doing?"

"She's still as active as ever, kicking me every chance she gets," Rosalie yawned again.

"I'm going to let you go sweetheart, you need to get as much sleep as possible," Royce said as the songs in the background switched.

"Okay babe, I love you."

"I love you, too."

When they got back to their barracks they went their separate ways. Emmett lugged his bags down the hall to his room and opened his door. Once inside, he turned the light on and threw his bags on his bed rolling his shoulders to get the ache out. He threw himself down in his chair at his desk, past the point of exhaustion. He didn't even want to put his things away, but knew he should in case there were room inspections.

He dragged himself up out of the chair with a low groan, checking his phone to see if Tanya had ever texted him back, forgetting to when they had pulled on base. His phone was empty, there were no missed calls or text messages. He didn't even have one from Rosalie.

Once he had put away all of his things, Emmett sprawled across his bed staring at the ceiling. After debating on whether he should or not, he picked up his cell phone and called Tanya. It rang a few times before she finally decided to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Emmett greeted her cautiously.

"What do you want Emmett?" Tanya asked in an annoyed tone.

"Will you just tell me what I did wrong? What did I do to upset you? We were doing so well that night and then you just turned into ice," Emmett asked her with a slightly frustrated and confused tone.

"You know damn well what you did!"

"No I don't! Otherwise I wouldn't be asking!" Emmett growled out.

"You slept with Jessica, and you don't have to bother denying it because she's the one who told me!"

"I did not! I don't even find her remotely attractive, you're the one I'm interested in. You're smart, beautiful, witty, and you've got a great sense of humor. You're the one I want to have a relationship with," Emmett tried to desperately please his case.

"I don't believe you. All you military types are the same, and I'm sorry but I'm not into sharing dicks with my friends."

The line went dead before Emmett could say anything else. He snapped the phone shut and threw it across the room. It hit the wall with a loud thud, and he heard the pieces hit the ground. He didn't even care at that point, he was so angry that he just wanted to break more things. There was a knock at his door before it opened to reveal Royce.

"Hey," he greeted him tossing him a beer and plopping himself down at the foot of Emmett's vet.

Emmett sat up and opened his beer, taking several long gulps of the bitter liquid, "How'd you know?"

Royce was quiet for a moment staring at his beer can, before looking up at his friend, "Jessica was texting me, I guess she's with Tanya right now."

Emmett grunted and took another sip of his beer.

"I didn't know she was going to do that," Royce said guiltily.

"It's not your fault," Emmett said waving his hand.

They sat there in silence for a while each sipping their beer until it grew a little bit awkward.

"Can you take the tampon out now?" Royce asked laughing.

"Me? You're the one who came in here with beer like we're a bunch of girls about to cry it out," Emmett joked.

Royce heaved himself off the bed, "Goodnight."

"Night," Emmett called out as Royce left his room.

He sat there finishing his beer and tossed the empty can in the garbage. His opinion about Royce as far as dating girls hadn't changed, but as far as friendship went Royce was a pretty good friend and loyal. He decided with new determination to not judge him, knowing his wife had done a number on him and to trust his friend. Little did he know, this was going to be one of the biggest mistakes he ever made in his life.

A few more days had gone by before Rosalie heard from Royce again, she had tried calling and texting him, but he always replied with a short response letting her know that he was busy and would call her later. He never did though and Bethany started to grow a little weary of their relationship. She was sitting at home on a rare day off in front of her computer, trying to keep up on her latest homework assignments when her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe, it's me," Royce greeted her, sounding very rushed and upset.

"Hey, what's wrong? Is everything okay?" Rosalie perked up, suddenly growing concerned at his tone.

"Yeah everything is fine," he rushed out. "Listen, I'm really busy right now, but can you do me a favor babe?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Can you start looking at apartments for us? Two bedroom furnished and unfurnished in Killeen?"

Rosalie felt her heart flutter, he was suggesting that they take the next step in their relationship. They were going to move in together soon and he wanted her to start looking at places for them.

"Babe, are you there?" Royce broke through her thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm here. So you want me to start looking at apartments for us?"

"Yes, I want you to look at some places and send me some of the links to them so I can go look at them and decide which one is best for us."

Rosalie had to hold back a squeal of delight, "What price range are we looking at?"

"Anything around seven hundred is fine, listen babe I have to get back to work. I love you and I'll call you later, remember to send me those links," he hung up quickly before she could even respond.

Rosalie stared at the phone, a little shocked at how quickly he got off the phone with her, but it was quickly diminished as her joy quickly took over when she finally let it sink in that they were going to move in together. Maybe this meant that Maria had finally agreed to sign the divorce papers and they could be out in the open now.

Rosalie didn't dwell on it too long and pulled up her internet search bar, typing in, "Apartments in Killeen" and started the search for hers and Royce's new place. Maybe they would be moving in together before she had Megan. She could only hope, she certainly didn't want to be alone in the delivery room, although there would be the hassle of having to switch OBGYN's and doctors.

Rosalie immediately found several nice two bedrooms within their budget and saved the links to send to Royce. They were all unfurnished though and she had to think about leaving enough money for them to buy furniture for these places as well as nursery furniture. She then looked at several furnished places, but didn't find very many she liked or fell in love with and also saved these links. After extensively searching the many apartment websites, she decided she had looked at enough places and sent Royce an email with all the links she had saved and picked up her phone to call Alice.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: More Lies

**Chapter Thirteen: More Lies**

Emmett, Jasper, and Royce were kept very busy over the next few days moving supplies and vehicles from one storage container to another. Emmett was annoyed at the labor, but at least it kept him busy and his thoughts off of what had transpired between him and Tanya. He hadn't heard from Rosalie at all, which he took as a sign that she really was going along with her relationship with Royce and even though it hurt a little and jealousy rose up, he shook it off and supported his friend. There were times where he had gone to Royce's room and he had been on the phone with someone, but as soon as he saw him he got off the phone quickly.

Emmett didn't think anything of it, and just assumed he had been talking to Rosalie. He felt his assumptions were right when he went to Royce's room that night and he found him looking at a list of apartments.

"Looking to get out of here?" Emmett asked sitting down on Royce's bed. He set the twelve pack of beer down on the floor and opened the box, grabbing out a couple of beers and handed one to Royce. "Where's Jasper?"

"He should be on his way," Royce said absently looking at another apartment listing.

"Why are you looking at two bedroom apartments though?" Emmett asked peering over Royce's shoulder at the computer screen.

"They're for me and Rosalie."

Jasper chose this moment to show up and waltzed through the door, greeting both his friends.

"What took you so long?" Emmett asked tossing him a beer.

"Had to clean up after sweatin' all day with you boys," Jasper joked sitting down on the bed next to Emmett. "I just heard what I said, and that came out wrong."

Royce and Emmett laughed at him until they had tears running down their faces. About halfway through, Jasper joined them and laughed along with them.

"What's that you're lookin' at?" Jasper asked nodding towards Royce's computer. He leaned forward squinting at the computer screen, "Apartments? You plannin' on leavin' us?"

"Yeah I asked Rosalie to start looking at apartments for us," Royce leaned back in his chair reaching towards Emmett for another beer. Emmett handed one in to his out stretched hand and opened another one for himself.

"Well ain't that sweet, you're very own instant family. Just add water folks!" Jasper said sarcastically. Royce responded by throwing his empty beer can at his head.

"You're just jealous cause your ex-wife left you," Royce retorted.

Jasper glared at Royce, "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that asshole."

A wicked grin spread across Royce's face as he looked over at Emmett and winked. He turned to Jasper and leaned forward in his chair towards him, careful to enunciate each word loudly enough for even people down the hall to hear him, "You're just jealous-"

Jasper kicked out and hit Royce's rolling chair just right, sending it flying backwards and Royce forward, face first into the floor. Emmett burst out laughing, while Jasper tipped his beer can towards him and took a long sip, leaving James groaning on the floor.

"I ain't jealous of shit, just makin' an observation sweetheart," Jasper laughed before helping Royce up off the floor.

Emmett wiped the tears from his face and watched Royce walk over and grab his chair, making sure it wasn't within kicking distance of Jasper before he went to sit down. Emmett waited until Royce was fully committed to sitting down in the chair and before he could, kicked out sending the chair flying across the room and Royce sprawled out on the floor. This cause Jasper and Emmett to only laugh harder and a new round of tears. Soon Royce started laughing from the floor and flipped them both the bird.

"You guys are dicks," Royce laughed out. "You almost made me spill my beer."

"Well that would have been a damn shame," Emmett chuckled.

Rosalie sat at her computer having an instant messenger conversation with Alice, telling her all about Royce's phone call and how her search for an apartment was coming.

"I can't believe this is finally happening!" she typed out to Alice.

"Be careful, doll face, you don't really know how it is living with someone from the military," Alice cautioned her.

"I know, but I'm excited. I don't want to be living with my parents and I really just want to be with him already. I'm tired of doing all this sneaking around. I'm hoping this means that Kylie decided to finally sign the divorce papers. Have you heard anything?"

There was a slight lull in their conversation as Rosalie ran downstairs to quickly unload the dishwasher that her step mother calling her to do. By the time she returned, she was winded from running up the stairs. It was getting harder and harder the closer her due date was approaching.

When she finally got back to her computer, Rosalie noticed she had an unread message from someone she didn't know.

Rosalie quickly typed out a message to Alice, "Hey do you know who Carmen is?"

"Carmen? Yeah that's Maria's mom, why?"

Rosalie froze and felt like her heart was about to pound out of her chest. Why would her boyfriend's soon to be ex-mother-in-law be messaging her? Panic started to set in, she didn't want Royce to get in trouble for being with her, especially since the army was his life. Her mind started to race and her palms became sweaty, she felt like she was going to be sick.

Rosalie ran from her computer and made it to the bathroom just in time to release the contents in her stomach. She sat on the bathroom floor, leaning over the toilet heaving until her stomach hurt and there was nothing left. Her phone rang from her room and she got up slowly off the floor. Shakily, she rinsed her mouth out and made her way to her room while her phone continued to chirp. Picking up the phone with shaky hands, she answered it while her voice tremored.

"Hello?"

"Hey, you quit replying! I was worried, is everything okay?"

Rosalie breathed a small sigh of relief, it was Alice on the other end.

"I don't know what happened, all of a sudden I just had the urge to throw up and it felt like I couldn't breathe."

"Wow, are you okay now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she reassured her friend sitting down at her desk.

"So what's going on?"

Rosalie grimaced staring at her screen, which was still notifying her of the instant message that was waiting for her to read.

"Carmen somehow got my email-don't know how, but she has-and has added me to instant messenger and sent me a message," she replied dryly.

There was a slight pause in their conversation before Alice asked, "Have you read it?"

"No," Rosalie snorted.

"Maybe you should, it might not be what you think it is."

"You're right, stay on the phone with me," Rosalie clicked open the message. They stayed on the phone with each other in silence, while Rosalie slowly and hesitantly read the message from Carmen.

' _Hi, I know you don't know me, but I'm Carmen. I'm Maria's mom.'_

"Okay, see that's not that bad," Alice said encouragingly.

"Yeah, but it doesn't say what she wants or why she's writing to me."

"Okay, well answer her."

Rosalie rolled her eyes at her friend's persistence and typed out a reply on the keyboard.

' _I don't know you personally, but I only know who you are. Why are you messaging me?'_

Rosalie waited in silence while her instant messenger notified her that Carmen was typing out a message to her. The longer Carmen typed, the more her stomach tightened.

' _I just wanted to let you know you need to stay away from Royce.'_

Rosalie stared at her computer in complete shock, her face heating up as her anger levels rose to new heights.

' _Not that it's any of your business, but we're just friends.'_

"What did she say?" Alice asked, hearing Rosalie pound on the keys.

"The bitch had the nerve to tell me to stay away from Royce!" Rosalie spat out.

"What? Did she say why?"

Just as Alice asked, Carmen sent another message, _'Good, cause Maria and Royce decided to work on their marriage, she's moving down to Texas next week. Royce got them an apartment.'_

Rosalie read the message aloud to Alice and tried to hold back her tears. Suddenly she grew very angry and typed back, _'That's funny because Royce and I were supposed to move in together in that apartment. Your daughter needs to stay the hell away from Royce, he's crazy and has talked about wanting her dead and how he'd do it.'_

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," Rosalie sniffed. "That's what I get for seeing someone whose divorce isn't done yet."

"Call him, find out if it's true. She may just be doing this to upset you," Alice suggested.

"Well it worked."

"Call him," Alice pushed.

"Good idea, I think I will."

"Okay babe, call me back and let me know what happens."

After promising to call her back, Rosalie hung up with Alice and called Royce's cell phone. After several rings, it went to voicemail and she left him a message begging him to call her back as she tried her best not to cry, but was pretty sure his voicemail picked it up. After she had hung up, she crawled into bed and let herself cry. Her phone alerted her to a text message, but she ignored it for now. She didn't want to talk to anybody, she just wanted Royce to call and tell her it wasn't true.

Emmett was currently eating lunch with Jasper and Royce, as well as several more guys from their unit when his phone started ringing from his pocket. He excused himself and answered it, trying to hear over his friends' boisterous laughter.

"Hey Alice, what's up?"

"Don't act all friendly with me, did you know about this?" Alice hissed at him.

Emmett looked at his phone in shock at the angry tone that Alice was coming at him with, "Know about what?"

"I swear if you're playing dumb right now, I'm flying to Texas and kicking your ass," Alice threatened him.

"I don't even know what you're talking about! So why don't you tell me before making threats?"

This peeked the interests of Royce, Jasper and several other of his friends. Emmett glared at them when he noticed they were all staring at him and they all went back to eating their food and making idle conversation.

"That Royce and Maria are getting back together," Alice snapped at him. Emmett's gaze snapped over to where Royce sat only to find his eyes were already on him. Emmett returned his gaze with a glare.

"Yeah, tell me more about how Maria and Royce are getting back together and how you found out about this," Emmett said loudly enough for Royce to hear. Royce's expression didn't really change to those around him, but Emmett saw the slight narrowing of his eyes as he continued to stare Emmett down.

"Rosalie and I were instant messaging each other when Carmen messaged her-"

"How did she get her email?" Emmett interrupted.

"I don't know, anyways, so Carmen instant messaged her and told her to stay away from Royce -I was on the phone with her the whole time."

"Who Carmen or Rosalie?" at this Jasper's head snapped around towards Emmett and he leaned forward to hear the conversation between Emmett and Alice.

"Rosalie," Alice answered him exasperatedly. "So Rosalie asked her why and she told Rosalie that Maria is moving down to Texas next week and that Royce found them an apartment."

"You mean the apartments that he had Rosalie looking up that was supposed to be for them?"

Royce looked down at his food avoiding both Emmett and Jasper's glare at this point talking to everyone else, but them.

"Is Rosalie okay?"

"No, she started throwing up and I could hear her crying, that's when I suggested she call Royce, but he didn't answer."

"Alright, let me find out what's going on and I'll call you back."

Alice said goodbye before he had a chance to and hung up the phone. Emmett snapped his phone shut before glaring at Royce, joined by Jasper.

"Outside, now," he growled.

Royce lazily looked over at Emmett, leaning back in his chair, "Or else what?"

"I'll call Maria," Emmett threatened.

Royce narrowed his eyes at the two before getting up and following them outside. Emmett fumbled for a cigarette trying to calm his anger before he really lost it on Royce, this had gone too far. Jasper took out his own pack and Royce followed suit while Emmett quickly typed out a text on his phone to Bethany promising to call her later.

"Explain yourself now," Emmett's voice was at a whole new level of deadly and Royce actually shrank back a little, almost confirming to Emmett that Royce was all talk and no hype.

"There's nothing to explain," Royce replied quietly shrugging his shoulders.

"You mean to tell me that you had Rosalie believe that the two of you were going to move in together and that you were going to get married, and actually had her looking up apartments under the impression that they were for you and her? And the whole time you were talking to Maria and knew the two of you were getting back together?"

Royce flinched at the anger in Emmett's tone while Jasper watched the exchange with a raised eyebrow.

"Now hold on a minute, I did no such thing. I really was going to move Rosalie over here, the apartments really were for us," he defended. "Maria and I were talking because I've been trying to get her to sign the divorce papers and now she's demanding that I take care of her for the next year until I get back from deployment and when I get paid for that I have to give her half of it. Then she'll sign the divorce papers!"

Emmett stared at him incredulously, "You expect me to believe that?"

"It's true! What I don't understand is how Alice found out," he took a long drag from his cigarette.

"Carmen told Rosalie," Jasper deadpanned staring at his phone.

"Wait how do you know?" Emmett turned on Jasper.

Jasper shrugged, "Alice just texted me."

"Great," Royce threw his cigarette on the ground stomping angrily on it. "I have to call Rosalie, I'll catch up to you guys later."

He pulled his phone out, searching for Rosalie's number and waived to the two of them as he turned to walk away.

Jasper and Emmett exchanged glances between the two of them.

"Do you believe him?" Emmett asked cocking his head towards Royce's retreating figure.

"Yeah, do you?"

Emmett shrugged before heading back inside to finish his lunch, "I don't have a reason not to."


End file.
